GUN Kitty
by Jonathan83X
Summary: With work at T.U.F.F at a snail's crawl, Kitty begins to feel restless inside, eventually receiving a job offer from G.U.N. Wanting a challenge, Kitty takes the job, but soon discovers the job comes with more sacrifice than she previously thought.
1. Snaptrap's last stand

Disclaimer: T.U.F.F Puppy and its characters belong to Butch Hartman and is copyright of Nickelodeon.

Sonic the Hedgehog and it's characters are copyrighted by Sega.

Reviews are welcomed as long its constructive and helpful.

For the citizens of Petropolis, it was time of celebration. Not even an hour ago, The T.U.F.F Agency had dealt a deadly blow to D.O.O.M.

Snaptrap, the main villain of the group, had devised a brilliant plan to destroy the T.U.F.F building, along with its team by hiding a cleverly placed bomb hidden within his hated henchmen Larry, as he went to the agency to turn himself in, willing to reveal his boss' evil plan in exchange for immunity for his previous crimes.

At first, none of the T.U.F.F agents bought this, including Dudley, who soon tied him up in a chair for interrogation with a bright light over him.

"Did you really think we'd fall for this?" Dudley demanded angrily, getting in his face. "You must we're pretty stupid or something!"

"Actually, I do think you're stupid." Larry retorted, glaring at him.

"Why you…" Dudley was about to give him a good smacking with his fists, that is until Kitty grabbed him by the shirt and brought the over eager dog to the left of where she was standing, now on his back.

"I'll handle this, Dudley." Kitty told him firmly. "You're not qualified to interrogate criminals."

Dudley instantly stood up, insulted by that statement. "Why, I'll have you know, I'm not only a competent T.U.F.F agent, I'm…" He quickly lost his train of thought, as he saw Keswick bring in a fresh box of doughnuts. "Doughnuts!" He exclaimed. "I got first dibs!"

Dudley then began to devour doughnut after doughnut as fast and as messily as he could, scattering pieces of it everywhere. Kitty groaned in disgust from his repulsive behavior, but soon resumed her job, walking towards Larry, now getting close to his face as well, and pointing a finger at him.

"Let me get this straight." Kitty said. "You're telling us you're defecting from that vile Snaptrap and going to hand over his evil plans as well in exchange for immunity?" She then added with now crossing her arms, "You mind telling us why?"

"What, you think it's easy working for that moron?" Larry replied sharply, but as sincerely as possibly. "He's always insulting me, punishing me for stupid stuff, and I always get the brunt of his nonsense more than any other of his other goons. Is it any wonder I'm switching sides?"

Kitty put a hand on her chin to think. Something about this rubbed her the wrong way. But before she could come to a conclusion, Keswick spoke up and said, "Well, m-m-maybe he's telling us the truth. After all, Snaptrap has a-a-abused this poor g-g-guy."

"I don't know." Kitty commented. "His story just doesn't track. He is Snaptrap's brother in law after all. Ties like that don't just evaporate overnight."

The Chief then spoke up, saying, "I think Larry's being honest with us as well. After all, he took a great risk coming here to give us secret information."

"But what if this just another trap by that weirdo rat?" Kitty argued. "Have you all forgotten the time he pretended to change his ways, only to bite us when our guard was down?"

That argument made both Keswick and the Chief doubt Larry as well, as they too began to think this over. Dudley meanwhile finally finished off the box of doughnuts, soon belching quite loudly and asking, "So, what I'd miss?"

Kitty again groaned at his disgusting behavior, replying sharply, "If you were paying attention, we were in the process of prosecuting Larry for pretending to switch sides."

"What?"

"Don't play dumb with us!" Kitty shouted, pointing a finger at him. "This plan has trap written all over it! Well you can tell your boss Snaptrap, the joke's on him!"

"No, wait, you don't understand…"

"Enough of your lies!" Kitty yelled, now showing her razor sharp claws to him. "Get out of here before I give you scars for life!"

"Kitty, wait!" The Chief said, intervening.

"Yes, Chief?" the female feline asked with annoyance

"Why don't we test him to see if he's legit or not." The Chief suggested.

"WHAT? You can't be serious!" Kitty said with disbelief. "Are you all blind?"

"I will not have you talk to me that way, agent Kitty!" The Chief shot back angrily. "I am your superior after all."

"But, Chief… He's…"

"Hey, c'mon, Kitty." Dudley said softly. "What could it hurt to run a full test to see if he's really trying to get us or not? It's the only way we'll really know, right?"

Kitty sighed heavily, rolling her eyes while giving in with extreme reluctance. "Fine, go ahead and test him." She then added to Larry while glaring at him, "But if you turn out to be a phony, your face is fair game to my claws."

Larry cringed at the thought of that, but soon said to her, "Relax, I wouldn't go this far if I wasn't legit."

"You better be, for your sake." Kitty retorted with her arms crossed.

And with those words, the T.U.F.F agency did a full body scan of Larry to see if he was indeed hiding anything from them. Within five minutes, the only thing they found was a CD plastic cover with a disc. Once it was discovered, Kitty said pointing a finger at him, "Ah ha, what did I tell you? Snaptrap probably gave him that disc to harm us!"

"No, it's not!" Larry argued. "It's a disc of Snaptrap's evil plans. I was planning to give it to you before you tied me up."

"A likely story." Kitty replied, not convinced. "But you're not fooling this agent!"

Kitty then got into position to attack him, when again; the Chief spoke up, intervening. "Hold it right there, Kitty!"

"Now what?" Kitty inquired with a loud groan.

"Shouldn't we at least test the disc before suspecting foul play?" The Chief suggested.

"The Chief has a-a-a point." Keswick said. "It's only fair we inspect it thoroughly before declaring Larry a-a-a wolf in sheep's clothing."

Kitty groaned yet again, arguing, "C'mon, Keswick, you actually think that disc wouldn't cause major harm to our network? It's obviously a trap."

"We won't know for sure until we test it." Dudley said, now adding his own two cents as well. "So let's do this, shall we?"

By now, Kitty gave up trying to win this argument. So, she took the disc from Larry and handed it to Keswick, telling him, "Test the disc for any viruses or cyber attacks first, just to be on the safe side."

"You can count on me." Keswick replied boldly. "No virus will get p-p-past on my watch."

Keswick then did a through scan of the disc. A minute later, it was determined there was nothing dangerous on the disc.

"See, I told you I was innocent." Larry said to Kitty, glaring at her. "You should be ashamed of yourself for judging me harshly before giving me an honest chance."

Kitty though wasn't ready to concede, nor apologize to him, at least not yet. "Let's just see what's on your little disk first, ok?"

"Fine by me." Larry replied firmly. "But I can assure you that you won't find anything wrong with it."

Keswick then put the disc inside the T.U.F.F main computer, finding out there was only one file on it, though a very large one at that, consisting of over 760 MB.

"What is that file anyway?" Dudley inquired with curiosity.

"It appears to be s-s-some sort of a-a-a program." Keswick answered. "I'll click it to see what it does."

Keswick clicked the mouse, activating the program. Within seconds, a screen popped up, asking, "Install Snaptrap's evil plan data?"

"Whoa, check that out." Dudley commented impressed. "It looks like Larry here hit the jackpot."

"Indeed." The chief added with genuine enthusiasm. "If this is what I think it is, we'll know his plans before he executes them, thus giving us the advantage."

Kitty though was very skeptical. She soon thought to herself, _something's not right here. How in Petropolis did Larry get these plans and then make a disk with all his files professionally? She soon added with frown, I smell a rat. This cannot be legit._

But not wanting to start another argument, Kitty decided to see for herself. Keswick then clicked yes on the pop up box, quickly installing the program. Due to having a super computer, the large data was installed within twenty seconds. The Chief then ordered, "Ok, Keswick, show us the files."

"Coming up, Chief."

Keswick quickly found the files on the hard drive, discovering they were large video files. Seeing these files though furthered Kitty's suspicions about the disc's legibility.

"Snaptrap videotaped all of his evil schemes on his computer? Even he's not that stupid!" Kitty said frowning. "This has got to be a fake!"

"Hang on, agent Kitty." The Chief told her. "Let's view one first before jumping to that conclusion."

Kitty sighed, reluctantly agreeing to do so. Keswick then clicked the first video files, immediately having the video player appear on screen and play the video within seconds. Once the video played, it showed Snaptrap and his gang at the table, soon discussing their next evil plan. Kitty by now was convinced this was a trap.

"This is bogus!" Kitty told Larry sharply. "You actually expect us to believe you video taped your boss's meeting without getting caught?" Even the others were beginning to feel something was off, that is until Larry said, trying to explain, "It's the truth. I hid a portable camera in my glasses. That's how I was able to pull it off."

"Oh, sure you did!" Kitty shot back. She then turned to his comrades and declared boldly, "I've think we've seen enough of this charade. I say we turn Snaptrap's convoluted trap back on him and deliver this shrimp to that rat with a little surprise added." Kitty had said the last part of that statement with a sly grin on her face, making Larry cringe.

"C'mon, Kitty." Dudley said, trying to soften her up. "Do you really think Snaptrap would really go to all this trouble just to have it be a trap? I mean, that would take a lot of work on his part just to make it look legit."

"Exactly my point." Kitty replied. "Snaptrap wants us to believe we got the jump on him, when in reality, it's him who's getting the jump on us."

"You may have a point there, agent Kitty." The Chief commented. "This could indeed be a trap."

"Glad to see you agreeing with me on this for once." Kitty said, slightly relieved.

"However," The Chief continued, "we don't know for sure if it is one or not."

Kitty slapped her forehead, groaning loudly. "How much more proof do you need?" She then pointed both of her arms near the screen and added, "It's staring right at us!"

"There's only one to settle this." The Chief said. "We're going to have to send a test squad to check its legibility."

"And how do you propose we do that?" Kitty inquired with arms crossed. "We don't exactly have a lot of agents to spare."

"That's why I'm going to be sending you and Agent puppy to two separate cases. If these smell as you claim they do, we'll have the rest of our unit ready to pounce."

"Sounds like a-a-a good idea to me, Chief." Keswick commented.

Kitty didn't want to go through with it, but she knew it was the only way they'd ever believe her story; she so reluctantly complied with this suggestion.

The Chief then looked at the first file again, where Snaptrap was monologing about his latest scheme. "This plan of mine will be my best one to date!" the villainous rat bragged. "We'll be sending two teams to two different locations within fifteen minutes of each other. That way, there's no way T.U.F.F can stop both of them at the exact same time."

Snaptrap began to let out an evil laugh for a few seconds, then stopped abruptly and said, looking in the camera's direction with a frown, "Larry, why do you keep adjusting your glasses while I'm giving my speech?"

Larry replied, trying to act calm when explaining, but wasn't able to entirely, "Sorry, boss, the frames are irritating my ears."

To Kitty's surprise, Snaptrap bought that explanation without raising another objection, deepening her suspicions. Snaptrap then continued his speech.

"Our first team will hit the Petropolis National Bank, taking all of it money and valuables. Then, when T.U.F.F shows up to spoil the party, I'll unleash Phase two, where the second team will rob a local jewelry story, ten miles away. This way, I get loot one way or the other. Isn't it brilliant, my fellow stooges?"

His henchmen nodded their heads in agreement, with Ollie asking, "So who's going to be apart of these teams, boss?"

Snaptrap replied boldly, "Simple. I'll have Bad Dog and Leather Teddy rob the bank since they're the more threatening duo, while you and Francisco take on the jewelry store."

Again, his henchmen liked this plan, except Larry, who spoke up, asking, " Wait, what about my role, Snaptrap?"

Snaptrap looked at him with a frown and replied sharply, "You get the honors of cleaning my fortress."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Larry shot back. "Why do you always have to give me the worst assignments?"

"Because you're too stupid to help me do anything else!" Snaptrap shouted. "If you weren't my brother in law, I'd can your butt a long time ago!" Snaptrap soon added afterwards pointing a finger towards the door, "Now get out my sights and make this place shine!"

Larry then said to him, almost choking up as he spoke, "You'll regret treating me so bad, Snaptrap! One day, I'll make you pay dearly for all of this abuse!"

"Oh yea, and what are you going to do, turn over all of my plans to T.U.F.F?" Immediately, all of the D.O.O.M members in the room began to laugh hysterically at Larry, showing him walk away towards the exit.

"Wow, that was harsh." Dudley commented with a low whistle.

"See now why I'm here?" Larry said. "I'm making good on my threat as I stated in the video."

"There's just one thing that doesn't add up." Kitty said with suspicion. "Why didn't Snaptrap do a thorough check on you after he saw you clearly adjusting your glasses?"

"Because I had the camera the same tint as my glass lenses." Larry explained. "What, you think I'd be stupid enough to bring a mini camera the others could see?"

"Makes sense to me." The Chief spoke up. Before Kitty could raise another objection, the flea continued, "Let's get ready to put Snaptrap's double robbery on ice. He then turned to Keswick and asked, "When do these robberies take place?"

"According to the disc f-f-files," Keswick replied. "The robberies are to be in effect within the next twenty m-m-minutes."

"What, you gotta be kidding me!" Kitty said. "There is no way this can be real. The timing is too coincidental."

"That's enough, agent Katswell." The Chief ordered. "You and Dudley are going to take down these robberies before either of them can take fruition. Is that clear?"

Kitty sighed heavily. "Yes, Chief."

"Good." The small flea said. "Now then, I want you to take on the bank robbery while agent Puppy here intercepts the jewelry heist."

"You can count on us, Chief!" Dudley replied with a formal salute. "Snaptrap's goons will never know what hit em!" He then ran off shouting, "_Hi_ Gee-Gee!"

_I gotta bad feeling about this,_ Kitty thought to herself

Moments later, Kitty and Dudley took off in separate T.U.F.F spy cars and headed for their designated locations. While they traveled, Dudley commented over her radio, "Yea, this mission will be a piece of cake! We'll mop the floor with those D.O.O.M morons!"

"Dudley, let's wait until after we trashed them to start celebrating, ok?" Kitty said firmly.

"Sure thing. Agent Puppy, out."

After he signed off, Kitty drove to the bank in silence, contemplating her next move. _There's no way this can be legit_, Kitty thought to herself. _This has got to be a trap. Still, I guess there's only one way to find out._

Ten minutes later, both Kitty and Dudley arrived at their destination, now hiding behind the buildings, waiting for Snaptrap's goons to show up. Once the agents were in place, Kitty radioed in to the Chief.

"Agent Kitty reporting in. No sign of any D.O.O.M members yet."

"Keep a sharp eye out." The Chief replied back. "If those tapes are legit, they'll be there shortly."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Kitty said with a sigh.

"We've got other agents within a mile of each location ready to strike in case of a trap. Relax, will ya?"

Kitty sighed again and replied, "10-4, Chief."

Kitty immediately signed off and then kept peeking around the corner, looking for any sign of trouble. Several minutes soon went by, with no D.O.O.M henchmen within sight. The tan feline began to wonder if this was all a big waste of time. That wonder though would soon be put to rest, as she heard a loud explosion near the front of the building.

"So they did attack after all…" Kitty then ran towards the bank to give D.O.O.M a taste of her martial prowess.

Leather Teddy and Bad Dog meanwhile soon approached the counter with laser guns in hand. Teddy demanded of the teller, who was a small chipmunk, "All right, nut muncher, hand over the loot, or you're gonna get zapped!"

The chipmunk immediately complied, handing over sack after sack to them as fast as he could while trembling profusely. As he was doing this, Bad Dog said with an evil chuckle, "Good job. When you're done with the cash, go get us some gold bars too."

"The only bars you'll be getting is jail bars!" Kitty retorted, pointing a finger at them.

"What the… How did you get here so fast?" Leather Teddy demanded with surprise. Even Bad Dog seemed shocked to see a T.U.F.F agent there this quickly.

"That's none of your business!" Kitty shouted. "Now return what you stole before I have to get physical!"

Both of them though laughed at her, with Bad Dog saying, "You seem to forget there's two of us, and only one of you."

"I can take on both of you with one arm tied behind my back." Kitty retorted again.

"Well, then, missy, why don't you come over here and show us then?" Leather Teddy said, challenging her.

That dare unfortunately though would be their undoing. Moments later, both D.O.O.M members began to shoot lasers at her in rapid succession. Kitty however saw them coming and easily evaded their attacks, using her high agility and a series of frontal flips and somersaults, soon using both of her feet to hit Leather Teddy in the chest hard with a strong aerial karate kick, immediately sending him crashing into the wall behind the teller seriously dazed.

"Hey! That was dirty!" Bad Dog shouted angrily, pointing a finger at her. "You'll pay for that!"

The large white dog then began to swing his fists at Kitty as fast and as hard as he could. Kitty though evaded each swing with ease, ducking underneath, as well as moving left to right. Eventually, she grabbed his right arm after swinging it at her again and then body slammed him to the ground flat on his back. With him now down for the time being, Kitty dusted her hands, thinking it was over. But unfortunately, it wasn't. Seconds later, Leather Teddy grabbed her from behind when she wasn't looking, soon holding her tightly in his arms.

As Kitty struggled to escape, Teddy told her, "Don't bother, T.U.F.F agent. I've got more muscle than you can handle."

Kitty though wouldn't back down, still trying to get free. Bad Dog then got up and said to her, "I've had enough of your meddling, feline! It's time for you to feel the pain for a change!"

Bad Dog then winded up his fists and soon attempted to swing a strong punch at her. Kitty however came up with a last second strategy, quickly ducking while in Teddy's arms, which in turn caused the large bear to take the brunt of the attack in the face. Bad Dog's punch was so strong; it seriously stunned his comrade, soon releasing Kitty while in a daze. Bad Dog was in disbelief at the sight of this. Kitty meanwhile took full of advantage of this opening, soon leveling the large white dog with another strong aerial karate kick to its face.

Bad Dog was sent flying outside through the hole they had made from the explosion earlier, soon landing face first onto the sidewalk completely stunned. Kitty then grabbed Leather Teddy by his leather jacket and said, "Now it's your turn!"

Moments later, Kitty swung him around several times and then kicked him hard in the gut, sending the D.O.O.M henchman flying outside onto the sidewalk as well, eventually landing on top his comrade.

As the two D.O.O.M members groaned in pain, Kitty ran towards them and stated boldly, "End of the line, boys! You're both going to jail!"

To her surprise though, Leather Teddy soon stood up and retorted, "Not today, T.U.F.F agent!"

Leather Teddy then pulled out what looked like a smoke bomb and threw it on the floor near her feet, releasing a huge plume of smoke on the ground. Kitty immediately began to cough heavily in response to this, as the smoke screen was very dense and thick. Five seconds later, it finally cleared up, but by then, they were long gone.

"Blast! They got away!" Kitty shouted disgusted.

Moments later, her radio began to ring, revealing it to be none other than the Chief.

"Status Report." The Chief ordered.

"The plans appear to be legit." Kitty explained. "Both Leather Teddy and Bad Dog were trying to rob the bank, but unfortunately got away."

"They what?"

"I'm sorry, Chief, but they pulled a fast one on me at the last second and fled."

The small flea groaned after hearing this and said, "Never mind. We got their top secret plans. We'll nail them next time."

"So how did Dudley do?" Kitty inquired seconds later.

"I'll let him tell you himself." he muttered. By the tone of his voice, she knew it wasn't exactly good news.

Seconds later, Dudley came on and said with enthusiasm, "Hey, Kitty, how's it going? You nail those two brutes?"

"No, unfortunately not." Kitty sighed with disappointment. "They released a smoke bomb and blinded me before I could arrest them."

"Eh, don't feel too bad. I didn't catch mine either."

"Let me guess, Dudley, they used a smoke bomb on you too?"

"Nah, they tried to escape in an ice cream truck, which unfortunately distracted me. They bolted after I began to devour some ice cream sandwiches in the back."

"You're kidding, right?"

Dudley then began to chuckle nervously and replied after a small pause, "Uh, no."

Kitty groaned loudly and said sharply, "I can't believe you! You had them right where you wanted them! How could you be so careless?"

"I'm sorry, but its just…"

"Yes…?"

At first Dudley hesitated to speak, but then said sobbing loudly, "I just couldn't help myself! I love those desserts!"

As Dudley sobbed on the radio, Kitty eventually muttered under her breath, "It is moments like these that make me wonder why on earth the Chief ever gave you a job with us in the first place."

"Sorry, say again?"

"Never mind, Dudley."

The Chief then said, "All right, that's enough chitchatting for now. Both of you return to HQ right now. We'll get ready for the next plan Snaptrap has in store on that disc."

"Yes, Chief." And with those words, Kitty got back in her car, heading back. As she traveled, she still felt uneasy about this whole situation. In spite of the fact the first two heists were legit; it wasn't enough to ease her suspicion about Larry's involvement.

_This is too good to be true_, Kitty thought to herself. _There has got to be a catch to this whole situation._

Ten minutes later, Kitty arrived back at HQ, where she saw Dudley still has some ice cream with him from the truck.

"Dudley!" She exclaimed, putting her hands at her waist with disgust.

"What?" Dudley asked, while licking the top of one cone.

"How can you eat all of that after blowing your mission? Not to mention you didn't even pay for it!"

The Chief then came in before Dudley could explain and said, "Never mind that. We got bigger problems on our hands."

"Now what?" Kitty inquired, sighing heavily.

"Keswick's just finishing looking at the next tape, and it's a big one."

"Big one what?" Kitty asked with curiosity.

"Show them the file." The Chief told Keswick.

"Can d-d-do, sir."

Keswick then clicked the video file, and there they saw Snaptrap having another meeting with his henchmen.

"I just thought of another superb plan, even better than the last one." Snaptrap proclaimed.

"You say that about every plan you come up with." Larry countered on the screen.

"Oh yea, well who asked you anyway?" Snaptrap demanded, pointing a finger at the camera. "Now shut up and let me tell it before I feed you to the sharks!"

Larry did was as he was told, though sighed reluctantly.

Snaptrap then brought out a rolled up poster and soon unrolled it onto the table, revealing blueprints.

"This time, we're going to blow up the T.U.F.F Agency building, using a fake mechanic to plant a bomb onto the main system, thus causing a chain reaction and incinerating the entire building, along with all of the meddling T.U.F.F agents." He then added looking at his henchmen with glee, "Isn't it marvelous?"

"Impressive plan, Boss." Ollie commented. "But who's going to be this fake mechanic and how are we going to get one into T.U.F.F anyway?"

"Simple." Snaptrap explained. "Every year, they send for tech mechanic to run a full check on their system. So, we'll intercept the real tech guy and have one our own wearing his outfit." He then added after they were oohing with excitement, "As for whom to send, I think you, Ollie, will be the best one for the job."

"You can count on me, Boss." Ollie replied, giving the rat a formal salute.

"Hey, how come you won't use me?" Larry asked with objection.

Snaptrap groaned with disgust and answered sharply, "Because you're too stupid to make a believable mechanic! Now stop your complaining and mop up this room at once!"

"No." Larry shot back.

"What?" All of the others, including Snaptrap said this in almost perfect unison.

"I'm tired of being your clean up boy." Larry said boldly. "Find another sap to do your dirty work, you incompetent rat."

That statement unfortunately set off Snaptrap, as steam soon billowed from his ears. He then said seething, "That does it, Larry. I've had all I can stand with you!" Snaptrap immediately clapped his hands after saying this and ordered, "Take this moron to the shark tank at once!"

"No, not the shark tank again!" Larry objected.

Within seconds, Snaptrap's henchmen picked Larry up and soon held him over the tank. Larry then pleaded, "Ok, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things to you. Just please don't make me shark bait again."

Snaptrap began to think it over, soon replying with a smirk, "Well, all right, I'll let you slide this once, as long as you give my floors an extra good shining."

"Of course, anything you say, Snaptrap." Larry replied gleefully.

Larry was then let go and immediately given a mop and bucket. Not wanting to end up in the tank again, he kept his word, giving the meeting room floor an extra good shine. Snaptrap soon arrived after he was finished and commented with a sly smirk, "Not bad, not bad at all. I guess you're a better mopper than I give you credit for."

"Glad to hear it, boss." Larry replied with relief. "So, can I go now?"

"Not quite." Snaptrap again clapped his hands together, with his other henchmen soon coming in and picking him up, making the shrew protest loudly.

"Hey, what gives? I kept my end of the deal!" Larry protested.

"I know, but I only said that to get you to clean my floors better. I really had no intention of letting you off the hook." He then ordered his goons, "Ok, drop him in."

"No, No, NO!"

But his protests were to of no avail. Snaptrap's henchmen tossed him in, with the sharks soon trying to tear into him immediately after hitting the water, eventually making the camera fizz out.

Kitty then spoke up and said, "Wait a minute. How did you survive that punishment anyway?"

"Well, it wasn't easy, I'll tell you that." Larry replied, showing them his scars from the shark bites on his legs.

Dudley immediately cringed upon seeing them, saying, 'Ooh, that's gotta hurt."

Kitty meanwhile was not convinced. Larry then added. "I'm turning on that rat now because of what he did that to me. Snaptrap is rotten creep who never gave me the respect I deserved."

"Sounds convincing to me." The Chief stated after seeing the scars himself. "I think it's safe to say Larry has defected from D.O.O.M, and is now on our side."

"Don't you think you're jumping the gun, Chief?" Kitty asked, still suspicious. "How do we even know this so called fake mechanic plan of his is real?"

"Because a tech person is coming by today to inspect our system within the hour." The Chief explained. "That's why this plan has to be legit." Kitty had forgotten about the tech inspection.

"And if that's not enough proof for you," The Chief added. "Keswick even found a file that details when this will all take place. Keswick, show them the file."

"Right away, "C-C-Chief."

Keswick immediately clicked the large file, soon revealing a PowerPoint styled file on the screen.

"Wow, I didn't know Snaptrap was such a computer nerd." Dudley commented, whistling at the professional looking text and images.

"Keswick, click the play presentation button at once so we can all see it."

Keswick did as he was told, as the screen soon went to black, showing the loading screen. Surprisingly, the presentation didn't begin to show right away, making the others arch an eyebrow.

"Is there a problem with the file?" The Chief asked Keswick.

"I-I-I d-d-on't think so, Chief." Keswick replied, trying to click it again to get it to work.

"Maybe it's just a huge file that takes some time to load." Dudley concluded.

"Nonsense." The Chief replied. "This computer is top of the line, fastest processor in all of Petropolis."

"Then why is it taking it so long to load?" Kitty inquired, now more suspicious than ever.

"I don't know." Keswick answered. "I-I'll try to fix it at o-o-once."

Ten seconds later, the presentation finally showed, making the brainiac dog say, "Ah, there we go."

Within seconds, the file began to show diagrams of Snaptrap's plan, showing them where they would intercept the techie and then replace him with one of their own. As it turned out, they would be hiding near the trash bins, ready to ambush the tech guy after seeing a fake sign planted on the front door, telling him to use the back one instead. Then, after taking him out, Ollie would come in and pretend to be doing a service inspection on the system.

"Sounds like an ingenious plan." Dudley commented.

"But how are they going to get that sign there without drawing any attention from our receptionist?" Kitty inquired.

That question would soon be answered, as the next part of the presentation showed they would wait until she was either heavily distracted or not at her desk, then planting it over the open sign of the building. Thus, no one would be the wiser until it was too late.

"Looks like Snaptrap's really outdone himself this time." The Chief remarked. He then said, "Well, only one thing to do. We're going to intercept this ambush before it happens. Agent Puppy?"

"Yes, Chief?" Dudley replied with enthusiasm.

"I'm assigning you to guard the trashcans outside the building for the next hour. If you see anything suspicious, radio it in immediately."

Dudley instantly saluted the small flea and replied, "You can count on me, sir. No D.O.O.M henchmen's gonna get near this building." And with those words, he ran off shouting again, "Hi, Gee-gee!"

Kitty sighed heavily and replied after he left the room, "I really wish he'd stop saying that."

"As for you, Agent Kitty, I'm going to have you monitor the front door. If you see anyone trying to put something on it or standing around suspiciously, take them down immediately."

"I'm on it, sir." Kitty replied.

Once Kitty left, Larry asked the Chief, "So, can you untie me now? I mean, I think I've proven I'm on your side now, right?"

"Well, I guess we'll let you out for now." The Chief replied reluctantly. "After all, you did help us out a lot."

Keswick then took out a pocket knife and cut the ropes that bound Larry, instantly freeing him. Larry soon replied, "Thanks, those ropes were really beginning to chafe my fur."

Larry then looked at the monitor, beginning to chuckle to himself. The Chief asked him a few seconds later perplexed, "What's so funny?"

"Oh, just thinking how much fun it'll be to see another plan of Snaptrap's blow up in his face." The shrew replied causally. "It's nice to be on the winning side for a change." That reply satisfied the small flea, as they all waited for Snaptrap's plan to unfold.

Kitty and Dudley meanwhile were soon in position, though were not in plain sight when guarding their designated areas. Dudley unfortunately kept giving feedback every minute about what he saw, thus annoying Kitty and the Chief.

Finally, the Chief said, "Agent Puppy, I do not want to hear another word out of you unless it's about D.O.O.M agents in the area. Do I make myself clear?"

Dudley sighed disappointedly, but replied, "Yes, Chief."

Ten minutes soon went by, with no sign of D.O.O.M in sight. Since the tech guy was due anytime now, tensions with the T.U.F.F Agency grew, wondering when Snaptrap's goons would make their move.

"C'mon…" Kitty said to herself, with frustration. "Just show your faces so I can kick your butts already!"

But another five minutes went by, and there was still no movement anywhere from them. Kitty by now was getting very restless, soon leaning up against a wall in another room near the receptionists area, trying to think. She even began to wonder if this plan was just another setup on Snaptrap's part.

Finally, two minutes later, Kitty saw someone trying to put something on the front door. Using her razor sharp reflexes, Kitty then lunged towards to door, flying towards him with an aerial karate kick. Within seconds, Kitty nailed the suspicious person head on with her feet, knocking them into a pole near the edge of the sidewalk, out cold. But when Kitty saw who it was, it turned out to be a false alarm, as it the paper he was trying to put on the door was an advertisement for pizza deals.

Dudley soon came out after hearing the commotion and asked her with excitement, "Did you nail the bad guy, Kitty?"

"No, I just took out an innocent advertiser instead." Kitty replied, sighing disappointedly.

Dudley though took one of his flyers and said hyped up, "Hey, check this out. They're offering extra large pizzas for 10$. Woot!"

"Dudley, would you knock it off?" Kitty scolded. "We're on assignment here!"

"Oh, yea, right…." Dudley put the flyer away and said while heading back, "Back to work then. Hi Gee-Gee!"

Kitty then walked back towards the door and went to open it, only to find out it wouldn't open at all. In fact, it was sealed shut. Kitty immediately tried to open the door with force, demanding, "Hey, what gives?"

The receptionist soon saw the dilemma, and went to solve it, that is until she saw the metal security doors slam shut down, blocking all access to the building. Seconds later, an alarm began to blare inside.

Dudley quickly went back around and asked, "What's going on here? What was the noise I just heard?"

"We've been had, Dudley!" Kitty yelled enraged. "Larry set us up!"

Dudley looked on in shock. "What, you can't be serious!"

"You think our security system was hacked by coincidence?" Kitty argued. "Use your head!"

Meanwhile, inside the building, the Chief saw his security system's lockdown mode had been triggered, saying, "What is going on here? I didn't authorize this!"

"I-I-I'll try to fix it at once, Chief." Keswick replied.

But the more Keswick tried, the more it became obvious the system had been taken over by another force.

"N-Nothing's working, Chief." Keswick said, now beginning to panic.

"Keep trying." The Chief ordered. "We've got to get control back at once."

Keswick continued to do so, but then out of nowhere, Larry began to chuckle softly to himself, then eventually to laugh louder and louder, making both Keswick and the Chief arch eyebrows.

"What's the big idea?" The Chief demanded. "Why are you laughing at our predicament?"

"Because…" Larry replied grinning. "You fell right into Snaptrap's trap!"

That statement hit them like a ton of bricks. "I never defected to your side in the first place. And, those files I gave you, it was all staged! Too bad you didn't listen to Agent Kitty. Now you're going to pay the price for being so gullible!"

Now enraged, the Chief ordered Keswick, "Get him!"

Unfortunately though, Keswick's attempts to nab Larry were in vain, as the stuttering dog was not someone who was known for his physical abilities. Larry easily dodged a leaping attempt to grab him and then said cackling, "Don't bother trying. You're too pathetic to take me down."

"When my agents get in here, you're in big trouble!" The Chief retorted.

"Oh, you mean the agents that are locked outside?"

"What?"

"See for yourself, insect."

The Chief then pulled down a video screen to confirm this, and there he saw monitors of Kitty and Dudley struggling to get inside. When the flea saw this, he was horrified. But before he could say another word, the large computer screen changed abruptly, now showing an image of Snaptrap on screen. There, a video message from him immediately played.

"Greetings, T.U.F.F agency." He said, with his arms stretched out in a friendly pose. "I see you fell for my trap. All I gotta say to you is… SUCKERS!"

Snaptrap soon began to laugh heartily at his foes, while Keswick and the Chief looked on in disbelief.

"Oh, by the way." Snaptrap continued. "In case you're wondering what's going on, I suppose I'll let you in on the secret since there's nothing you can do to stop me anyway."

The image on the video screen immediately changed, now showing the CD Larry had brought with him. "Thanks to my cleverly placed decoy, I had Larry convince you to install this program with all sorts of video files of my master plans. I knew you more than likely would be eager to see them without checking their authenticity, so I added a little surprise to it as well."

The image changed again, now the main system of T.U.F.F. "Within one of my diagram files, I added a special program, one that would hack your computer system, finding out the trigger code that activated your self destruct program, thus destroying you from within." The screen quickly changed back to show Snaptrap as he added, "And as a special bonus, I had it activate the code red lockdown as well, thus keeping your T.U.F.F agents from interfering." He then said chuckling, "So, was my plan brilliant or what?"

Neither Keswick, nor the Chief replied to this. Instead, their emotions were one of shock and anger.

"Now then, it's time for my master plan to be unleashed. So long, T.U.F.F!" And with those words, the screen changed to a timer, showing the self destruct program to be initiated within the next five minutes. Keswick and the Chief now began to panic, wondering what to do.

The Chief then ordered Keswick, "Hurry, deactivate the program at once!"

But all of Keswick's efforts were in vain, as the program would not be halted without a password, a password neither of them now knew.

"Snaptrap's l-l-locked us out!" Keswick exclaimed. "I can't stop it!"

"Now what do we do?" The Chief asked, groaning loudly.

Meanwhile outside the building, both Kitty and Dudley tried to bar their way in, but it was of no avail. T.U.F.F's security system was too tough for them to do so.

"We've got to get in there and stop that self destruct program!" Dudley said, now beginning to panic. Both of them had overheard Snaptrap's big speech of blowing the building sky high.

"There's only one thing to do…" Kitty said. "We're going to have cut our way in."

"With what?" Dudley inquired.

"Why, these of course." Kitty replied with a sly grin. A laser gun was in her hand, thus showing Dudley what she had in mind.

"Ah, I follow you, but do you really think these can cut through that metal door?" Dudley pondered.

"Only one way to find out." Kitty replied. "Let's get started."

While this was going on, Snaptrap and his goon were up on a hill a few miles away, wanting to get a good view of the blast.

"This plan of mine worked out like a charm." Snaptrap commented with an evil grin, looking through a pair of binoculars. "I knew they'd be gullible enough to believe Larry's sob story."

"Just wondering, boss." Ollie said. "How is Larry going to get out of there?"

"He isn't." Snaptrap replied bluntly.

When the others looked at him perplexed, Snaptrap added, "I'm tired of his antics anyhow, so this way; I get a two-fer."

Snaptrap then laughed heartily to himself, enjoying the moment he had cooked up. His henchmen on the other hand didn't quite share his enthusiasm for this idea.

Back inside the building, Larry then made his move to escape. "Well, it's been nice knowing you," He said to Keswick and the Chief. "But it's time for me to go. See ya!"

The Chief was tempted to have Keswick go after him, but thought better of it. He realized trying to get the password was the most important thing now. But time was beginning to run out, with now less than four minutes left on the timer.

Larry meanwhile went to one of the back access doors and punched in the password Snaptrap had given him. Little did he realize, it was fake. After typing it in again and again and not getting anywhere, Larry now began to panic as well.

"Hey, what gives?" He demanded. "I thought this was the password Snaptrap was going to use for the main system."

Within seconds, it hit him. Snaptrap had set him up as well, now making the shrew angry as well. "That dirty Snaptrap!" He exclaimed. "I should have known he would have pulled a stunt like this!" He then ran back towards the Chief and Keswick, pleading, "Please, you've got to access that password before we're all goners!"

"Why do you care?" The Chief demanded. "It's not like you're in any danger."

"Oh, yes I am." Larry replied, trembling inside. "Snaptrap's planning to get rid of me as well."

"You mean…?"

"Yes! He just used me to get rid of you!"

Larry then got on his knees and said, "Please, help me! I don't want to die!"

"I'm d-d-doing the best I can." Keswick replied. "But I can't c-c-crack this password."

Larry by now was starting to wonder if this was it for them.

Meanwhile, Kitty and Dudley were starting to make progress with the door, but not enough to their liking. Little by little they were cutting a hole big enough for them to get through. Two and half minutes had now gone by, making both T.U.F.F agents feel very nervous inside.

"Keep cutting, Dudley." Kitty ordered. "We've got to get in there!"

"Right."

Finally, at around three minutes and forty five seconds, they had cut a big enough hole, making a chunk of the metal fall backwards in the process.

"Stand back, Dudley."

Kitty then used a strong karate kick on the glass around the floor, easily breaking it, causing pieces of glass to fly all over the floor inside the building. Having access now, both agents ran inside to the main hub, where they saw the Chief and Keswick trying desperately to find a way to crack the password. Larry on the other hand was just looking on with deep despair.

Kitty was tempted to beat Larry to a pulp, but realized there was no time for that. So, she asked instead, "How we doing, Keswick?"

"N-N-Not good, Kitty." Keswick replied, now starting to panic as well. "I haven't been able to a-a-a find a solution to this dilemma."

"Are you telling us it's hopeless?" Dudley asked with great fear.

"Uh, m-m-maybe…."

"NO!" Dudley shouted. "I'm too young to die!"

Kitty grabbed his shoulders and said sharply while looking him in the eye, "Get a hold of yourself! There's still time left."

"Yea, but not much though." The Chief said, pointing towards the screen. Indeed he was right. There was less than forty seconds to go, and counting.

Kitty tried to think of what it could be, soon typing in words Snaptrap might use. But, it was no use. Every password was coming back as invalid.

"Do something, Kitty, quick!" Dudley screamed.

"Don't shout at me!" Kitty fired back. "I don't work well under this kind of pressure!"

As Kitty attempted to type in another password, Dudley began to mutter while lying on the floor with his arms over his eyes, "We're doomed, doomed!"

Kitty then tried the password, Snaptrap rules. But again, it came back as invalid. There was only less than fifteen seconds to go. By now, just about everyone in the room was to the point of breaking down; unable to accept the fact their fate was sealed. Kitty though kept her composure, though there wasn't much of it.

"What could that password be?" She pondered out loud.

"Less than ten seconds to go!" The Chief proclaimed.

Then, it hit Kitty. Snaptrap was a bad speller. So, she decided to take a shot as the clock began to tick down to seven and counting.

Typing as fast, but as precise as possible, Kitty put in the same password, but this time replaced the e and s with a z. With two seconds left, she hit the enter button, knowing this was their last chance.

"Goodbye, cruel world." Dudley said, sobbing to himself.

But then something amazing happened after Kitty typed in that password. It shut off the self destruct program, as well as halt the lockdown mode of the building as well. Kitty's assumptions about Snaptrap had been proven right.

With the system now safe, Kitty sighed a deep sigh of relief. She then told her comrades. "It's ok, everyone. I figured out the password. We're safe now."

Dudley looked up after he had been whimpering for a bit and said, "Really? We're not doomed anymore?"

"No, we're not, Agent Puppy." Kitty replied with a sly grin on her face. "You can relax now."

"Well done, Agent Katswell." The Chief said ecstatic. "You saved the T.U.F.F agency from near disaster. You are to be commended."

"Thanks, Chief," Kitty replied with a warm smile. "But I think we better take care of business before handing out rewards."

"Indeed." Dudley said, hyped up. "It's time we get that vile rat and make him pay, in spades!"

Back outside, Snaptrap was beginning to wonder why the T.U.F.F building hadn't blown up by now. "What's taking so long?" He pondered, looking through his binoculars "It should have been blasted to bits a minute ago!"

"Uh, just a thought, boss." Ollie suggested. "Perhaps the program malfunctioned."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Snaptrap retorted, smacking him on the head with the binoculars. "That program was one of my finest works ever made. It's basically fail proof."

"Well, something must've happened." Francisco replied, with his shoulders crossed. "The building's still standing."

Snaptrap ignored him and went back to looking at the building again through his binoculars. After three minutes went by, he was convinced something had indeed happened, making him boil with indignation. "How did those T.U.F.F morons crack my program anyhow?" He demanded. "There's no way they could have figured out my ingenious password!"

He soon composed himself and said, "Never mind. I was prepared for this. Snaptrap then radioed his goons Bad Dog and Leather Teddy, saying, "unleash the missile, now!"

"10-4, boss!" And with those words, Snaptrap's backup plan was under way, as Bad Dog hit the button, releasing a large missile into the sky, headed straight for the T.U.F.F building.

While Snaptrap watched, he chuckled to himself, "They may have been smart enough to crack my code, but they'll never be able to stop my missile in time from destroying their precious building.

Snaptrap couldn't have been more wrong. Within a half a mile of its target, Snaptrap saw something that made his jaw drop. Out of nowhere, a laser beam had hit the missile in mid air, destroying it on contact.

He soon jumped up and down, yelling, "Not fair! How could they have stopped it so easily?"

"Uh, boss, maybe that image in the distance explains it." Ollie said sheepishly.

Snaptrap looked in his binoculars again, and there he saw both Agent Katswell and Puppy in a flying spy car, now gunning for them at top speed.

Deeply enraged, Snaptrap ordered his minions, "Fire everything we got at them! I want those agents blasted to bits!"

"You got it, boss." Francisco replied, arming his laser gun.

Within seconds, the D.O.O.M members began to fire multiple lasers from their guns at them in rapid succession. But it wasn't enough to slow them down. Being an expert of the flying spy car, Kitty zigzagged her way through their attacks, soon getting into position to counter.

"Get ready to take the wheel, Dudley!" Kitty ordered. "I'm going in to trash their butts!"

"Will do."

Once they were close enough, Kitty leaped out of the car, using somersaults to evade the oncoming laser attacks, eventually hitting Francisco in the face with a strong aerial karate kick to his gut with her feet, knocking to them ground flat on his back in a serious daze. Ollie then tried to take her down with his laser gun, but he too was beaten to the punch, as Kitty fired her laser gun at his, knocking it out of his hands. The laser beam even slightly burnt his hand in the process, making him clutch it in pain. Kitty immediately took advantage of this opening, using a triple round house kick to hit him in the face. Kitty's attack was so strong; it slammed the lanky possum against the trunk of Snaptrap's car hard, knocking him out cold.

Enraged at his henchmen's incompetence, Snaptrap attempted to pick up Ollie's gun and use it on her. But when he saw Dudley coming towards him in the flying spy car, he thought better of it, soon starting up his own car and taking off. Kitty then tried to run after the evil rat and get inside of it and take him down, but Snaptrap was one step ahead of her, socking her hard in the face with his right fist as she lunged towards him, knocking her to the ground on her back slightly dazed. While she picked herself off the ground, Dudley came flying in and said, "C'mon, let's go get em!"

Kitty quickly got inside the car, and the chase was on.

Dudley immediately put the car in overdrive and followed after him. As they got closer tailing the vile rat, Kitty could see Snaptrap was heading towards the mountain road. His plan was to lure them near the cliffs, then blast one of their tires, as well their hover engine and then have them careen off the edge.

Seconds later, Dudley closed to within less than five feet of Snaptrap's car. Snaptrap quickly turned around and saw they were coming in too fast for his tastes. So, he took out his own laser gun he had stored in the glove compartment and began to fire at them aggressively, trying to carry out his plan. With the road starting to get tighter and the terrain rougher each passing mile, Kitty took over the controls again, allowing Dudley to now shoot lasers at his car.

"Get me closer, Kitty." Dudley said with the laser gun in his grasp. "I'm gonna try to blast his engine to bring him to a halt."

"Wouldn't be easier to just shoot his tires?" Kitty suggested.

"Perhaps, but let me try my plan first."

Kitty groaned and replied, "Just take him down. I don't care how you do it."

"Will do, Kitty." And with those words, the laser barrage from both cars began to heat up.

Snaptrap and Dudley began to fire multiple lasers at each other, trying to destroy their foe's car. Kitty meanwhile steered to get alongside, trying to give Dudley a shot at destroying his engine. However, as she did so, Snaptrap took advantage of this, soon ramming their car into the guardrail on the right side as hard as could, resulting in major sparks flying from it. Kitty then backed off, as she realized it was getting them nowhere.

"Try the other side." Dudley suggested.

"What, are you crazy?" Kitty retorted.

"Trust me on this."

Kitty reluctantly complied, now moving alongside Snaptrap's car on the left side. But again, Snaptrap saw this coming and again rammed their car hard into the other guardrail, resulting in further damage to its sheet metal. Even parts of the mountain wall were damaging the left side of the spy car from this ill advised move.

"We can't keep this up, Dudley." Kitty said irritated. "He'll destroy our car."

"Well then, what do we do?" Dudley inquired.

With less than two miles of mountain road ahead, Kitty tried to think of a plan. Then, out of nowhere, she came up with one.

"I've got it!" Kitty exclaimed.

"What's the plan?" Dudley inquired.

"Keep him busy." Kitty told him. "When the time comes, I'll show you."

So, Dudley did as he told, firing laser after laser at Snaptrap while the evil rat did the same. Eventually, the road began to narrow to the point that either car could barely maneuver around the attacks. Snaptrap then took full advantage of this, firing multiple lasers at his foes, determined to wreck their car before the upcoming cliffs came upon them. With barely any place to evade, their spy car began to take heavy damage, as pieces of sheet metal began to fly off the car. Dudley soon tried to do likewise, but due to his erratic accuracy, he missed more times than not, doing very little damage to Snaptrap's car. To make matters worse, the left front tire was soon blown to bits, making it harder for Kitty to control the vehicle.

Seeing this put a smile on Snaptrap's face, as he now aimed to destroy their hover engine on the underside of the car with his laser gun. There was now only a mile of road to go, making both Kitty and Dudley very nervous inside. Seconds later, Snaptrap's lasers began to connect with its target, hitting parts of the hover engine, seriously damaging it.

"Time to go for the kill!" Snaptrap proclaimed. Again, he hit the hover engine with more lasers, damaging it even further. Kitty now realized if this kept up, she and Dudley were finished. But then, she finally saw what was she waiting for, a sign up ahead mentioning no guard rail up ahead near a cliff area.

"Now to make our move!" Kitty said to Dudley.

Dudley didn't know what she had in mind, but decided to trust her on it. With less than 100 feet to go, Kitty hit the throttle, now getting alongside Snaptrap's car on the right side a second time. It was a very tight fit, but there was just enough room for her to do so. Snaptrap though saw them attempting this and quickly went to ram their car a third time, determined to run it off the road.

"Kitty, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Dudley asked, now beginning to panic.

"Trust me, Dudley." Kitty replied. "I've got it under control."

"Pathetic T.U.F.F agents!" Snaptrap shouted. "I'll finish you off for sure now!"

Without warning, Snaptrap fired another barrage of lasers underneath their car, trying to destroy the hover engine. But instead, he missed his target, and ended up blowing out the left rear tire. Kitty tried to keep her composure after this had happened while Dudley was on the verge of panicking again.

"Now what, Kitty?" Dudley asked with fright

Finally, she saw the cliff up ahead, making her feel more confident. Snaptrap meanwhile also saw the cliff and decided to use it to take them out.

"Say goodbye, morons!"

Snaptrap now turned the wheel completely to the right, planning to knock them over the cliff and then brake after doing so. But unfortunately for him, Kitty was one step ahead of him. Using precise timing, Kitty waited until they were less than twenty five feet from the oncoming cliff and then slammed on the brakes as hard as she could, turning her wheel to the left in order to use a pit maneuver on him. Her plan began to work as expected, as Snaptrap's car soon went ahead of theirs, by about three-fourths of a car length. Seconds later, their spy car tagged Snaptrap's in the rear quarter panel, causing it to spin out of control once it cleared the narrow mountain road, eventually careening over the cliff ahead at full speed, making the vile rat scream loudly as he fell towards his apparent demise.

Even though Kitty managed to slow their car down, it was not enough to stop it in time due to having only two tires to brake with, as they too went over the edge.

"Hurry, Kitty!" Dudley pleaded. "Activate the hover engine."

Kitty immediately did so, but saw it was sputtering due to the serious damage it received from Snaptrap's laser gun.

"What are you waiting for?" Dudley asked, now trembling inside.

"It's not responding." Kitty replied, trying to keep calm while pressing the button again and again. Seconds later, less than twenty feet from the ground below, it finally activated, but only long enough for it to bring them to a halt for a few seconds, where it eventually sputtered again, causing the spy car to hit the ground abruptly, seriously damaging the underside of it.

Kitty saw Dudley was covering his eyes again while this was going on and said tapping him on the shoulder, "You can look now, Dudley. We're on the ground."

Dudley slowly opened his eyes and saw it was true. He then sighed a deep sigh of relief, saying, "Man, that was close one."

"You're telling me. C'mon, let's go see what happened to Snaptrap."

Both T.U.F.F agent then ran towards the wreckage of where his car had landed, seeing a large fire due to the engine igniting. As they arrived on the scene, they saw the aftermath of the car, which was completely totaled, but not a sign of Snaptrap anywhere.

"Where did he go?" Dudley asked puzzled.

"You got me." Kitty replied. "There's no way he could have survived this without us finding out about it."

The two agents then began to look around to see if it was possible he had used a parachute to escape harm. But there wasn't a sign of it anywhere.

"I don't believe this." Dudley muttered. "Are you telling me Snaptrap survived without a trace of us finding out?"

Kitty shook her head and replied, "I don't think so. There's no way he could have done so without giving himself away. My guess is he hit the ground somewhere up the mountain area, killing him instantly."

"Perhaps…"

But before Dudley could think of anything, the Chief and Keswick arrived in another spy car, now all smiles.

"Well done, agents." He said, beaming with pride. "We've got nearly all Snaptrap's goons in custody. All we need is for you to tell us where the big rat is and we'll finally have beaten him."

"I'd love to tell you where he is, Chief." Kitty said softly. "But the truth is, we haven't found a hair of him after he went over the cliffs."

"He w-w-what?"

"I used a pit maneuver after he tried to escape through the mountain roads, causing him and the car to careen over and plummet to the ground below." Kitty explained.

"You're telling me Snaptrap might be dead?" The Chief inquired.

"It's a possibility." Kitty answered. "But until we have found his body, I'm not ready to believe that just yet."

"We'll have to do a thorough search then." The Chief concluded. "Not one stone shall be left unturned."

Three days later, their search came up empty. There was no sign of Snaptrap anywhere. It was then concluded by the T.U.F.F agency that his body was vaporized upon impact when the car exploded after hitting the ground. Kitty though didn't buy that explanation, but it was soon becoming apparent that Snaptrap was indeed gone, as a week soon passed, with not a clue of his whereabouts anywhere.


	2. Kitty's restlessness

Strangely, while most of the citizens of Petropolis were overjoyed by the news of his concluded passing, Kitty felt empty inside, so much so that she couldn't even enjoy a victory party of their achievement. Dudley soon saw this and asked, "Hey, why the long face, Kitty? Can't you see this is a day to celebrate? Snaptrap is finally gone!"

"Yea, I know…" She muttered sadly, having her right hand under her chin.

"C'mon, let's party!" He then grabbed Kitty by the arm, having the two of them dance to a techno beat being played in the background. Kitty didn't resist his attempts to cheer her up, but didn't enjoy it either. Dudley however was too much in a zone to notice now, as he began to dance with fervent excitement.

Once the song ended, Dudley shouted with his arms raised high adrenaline, "Oh yea, what a killer song!"

"Yea… killer song…." Kitty mumbled.

"You ready for round two?" Dudley asked her psyched up.

"I'll… take a rain check on that." Kitty replied, walking away.

"Hey, where you going?" Dudley asked confused. "Don't you want to celebrate?"

"Some other time, Dudley. I'm not really in the mood now."

While she walked away from the room, The Chief asked Keswick, "What's gotten into her? I thought she'd be elated by the fact we don't have to deal with Snaptrap anymore."

"I-I-I would think so as well, Chief." Keswick replied. "M-M-Maybe something's troubling her about the e-e-encounter."

Dudley was about to go after her, when T.U.F.F secretary Tammy tapped on him on the shoulder and asked smiling, "Hey there, hotshot. Mind if I cut in?"

"Uh, that's ok." Dudley replied awkwardly. "I need to go check on my partner anyhow."

"Oh, c'mon." Tammy said, grabbing his arms and pulling him close to her. "It'll be fun. Besides, I'd like to learn some of those cool dance moves of yours if it's ok with you."

Flattered by her comment, Dudley told her reluctantly, "Well, I guess so… but just for a little while."

Unfortunately though, once the music started up again, Dudley soon became so wrapped up in it, he completely forgot about his concern for Kitty, as hours soon passed. Before he knew it, it was past 10pm.

With the party now in its twilight, Dudley finally caught his breath and commented, "Whoa, now that's what I call dancing up a storm."

"Thanks for everything, Dudley." Tammy said with a sly grin. "I had a wonderful time tonight." She then surprised him with a kiss on the cheek, making him deeply blush.

"Uh, why'd you that?" Dudley asked with embarrassment.

"Just a little thank you gift." The secretary rabbit replied. "Besides, it was nice of you to let me be your dance partner even though you would rather have Kitty be it."

Hearing that word made Dudley slap his forehead hard. "Kitty! Oh my goodness, I've got to go find her!"

Dudley then ran out of the room as fast as he could, surprising not only Tammy, but the rest in the room as well. Tammy turned to Keswick after he left, who was managing the music equipment and asked, "So, mind if we have some refreshments together?"

Keswick replied with a full body cringe, "Uh, n-n-no thanks. I've got to take care of a-a-a this machine. Any beverages close by could cause it to m-m-malfunction."

Tammy frowned at his response, asking, "What's with you? You act like you're scared of girls."

"He is." The Chief replied with a smirk.

Tammy then shook her head, slowly walking away. "Whatever. If y'all need me, I'll be back in my office, straightening up."

Meanwhile, Dudley searched frantically for Kitty, looking in every possible place in Petropolis she could be.

As it turned out, Kitty had walked up towards a hill near where D.O.O.M HQ was a far off and sat down to think, looking at the building intently. While she was glad Snaptrap in a way was out of the picture, the fact she didn't get to see his remains left her wondering if he was indeed gone or not

_Why do I get the feeling he's still out there_? Kitty thought to herself. _But if that's true, why hasn't he shown up yet and revealed himself to anyone? This whole situation is just such a head scratcher._

Moments later, a shadow appeared from behind and said, "There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you."

Kitty turned around quickly and saw it was none other than Dudley. As he walked towards her, she replied, "You sure took a long time to track me down."

"Sorry, I got a little sidetracked." Dudley answered sheepishly, now sitting down next to her on her right side.

"So, I take it you had a great time at the party." Kitty commented inadvertently.

"Yea, that Tammy's quite the dancer." Dudley said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You danced with her?" Kitty asked, looking at him with surprise.

"Well, after you left, she offered to take your spot, so I reluctantly agreed."

"Never mind." Kitty said, shaking her head, soon turning to look back at the D.O.O.M building.

Dudley then remembered why he was there and asked, "So, tell me, what's gotten you so down as of late? You seem to be upset Snaptrap's gone."

Kitty sighed heavily and replied, "I don't know if I can explain it correctly. It's kind of complicated, Dudley."

"Try me, I'm not that simple minded." Dudley told her boldly. He then saw a firefly in front of him and said with glee while looking at intently, "Ooh, check that out. Pretty."

Kitty slapped her forehead slightly, letting out a small frustrating groan. Dudley then said, "I'm sorry, what we were talking about?"

"Forget it." She muttered.

"No, wait, I remember now. You're upset about Snaptrap being gone. So, you going to tell me why or not?"

Kitty decided to tell him, since she figured he wouldn't let it go until she did. "Well, it's just that… I never got that closure I wanted."

"I don't follow you." Dudley said confused.

"I can clearly see that." Kitty muttered again, this time under her breath.

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind." Kitty replied. "What I'm trying to say is, I never got to see what happened to him. Is he defeated for good? Did he die? Was his body vaporized? I don't know, and frankly, this mystery is giving me a big headache."

"Well, why does that matter anyhow?" Dudley asked. "Aren't you glad he's out of our hair?"

"Yes, of course. But…"

"But?"

"I always wanted to rub it in his face when his day of final defeat finally came. Granted of course, if he was dead, I couldn't have done that, but at least it would have given me some kind of closure. However, with him just disappearing after going over the cliff, I have nothing now to go on. So, I guess you could say him gone has left me unfulfilled."

"I see." Dudley commented.

"Plus, I have to admit, he and his D.O.O.M organization made my job more interesting as a T.U.F.F agent. Now that he's history, who do I have now that I can fight that makes this job such a wonderful challenge?"

"Well, there's always the Chameleon." Dudley replied.

"Dudley, he's in a mental institution, locked up in maximum security." Kitty reiterated, with her arms at her waist while frowning. "Besides his transformation suit was confiscated and burned, if I recalled correctly anyway."

"Well, what about Birdbrain?"

"Oh please, Dudley, that guy is just a wannabe villain; with pushover henchmen I might add. He's a complete bore."

"Wait, I know." Dudley said, snapping his fingers. "You can go beat up on our doppelgangers. That should keep you occupied for now."

Kitty rolled her eyes and replied, "You're joking, right? Them?"

"Well, why not?" Dudley inquired confused.

"Because they're basically just imitators of us, except for evil purposes." Kitty explained. "It'd be like fighting a clone of yourself. After awhile, it gets monotonous. Plus, how in Petropolis did we get doppelgangers anyway when we've only been partners for less than six months?"

Dudley shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Well, maybe because we make such a good team, they decided to make one of their own."

Kitty though didn't buy that explanation for a second, but unfortunately couldn't think of a better one. She then said without thinking, "Let's face it, with Snaptrap gone, I'm starting to wonder if I should even be apart of the T.U.F.F Agency any longer."

Dudley did a double take and said with shock, "What, you're thinking of quitting? Say it ain't so!"

"Relax, Dudley." Kitty replied, now trying to reduce the damage of her previous statement. "I'm not really considering it, not yet anyway."

"But how can you even think that?" Dudley asked her, now with those big sad eyes of his. "Don't you know how much you mean to me as my partner?"

Kitty felt flattered and guilty at the exact same time. She then said looking at him, "I'm sorry, Dudley, I'm not trying to hurt you or anything. I just…"

"Well, what is it then?" Dudley demanded, with a bit of sorrow in his voice. "Are you saying you don't want to be my partner anymore?"

"No, of course not. Don't be ridiculous. I like you a lot as my partner." Kitty told him. "Honest, I do. But, I need to feel challenged as a T.U.F.F agent. If I don't have that anymore, then what's the point of staying? I want to be fighting super villains and put them in their place, not weaklings like Birdbrain, who I believe a kid could stop him with the right training." She turned to look at Dudley and said, "I hope you understand."

Dudley didn't completely, but he did understand the thrill of fighting bad guys and putting them behind bars. It was indeed a rush that made being a T.U.F.F agent worthwhile. So, he said after a pause with his head down, "Well, I guess I can…" He then looked at her again and told Kitty, "Just please promise me you'll give this a lot of thought before making this crazy decision of yours." Dudley's eyes began to moisten up, as he added, "I don't want to be a T.U.F.F agent without you."

Kitty was deeply touched by his words, so she gave him a hug and replied, "Ok, I promise."

The two of them then stood up after their embrace, with Dudley asking, "So, you want to head back to T.U.F.F and dance with me for one final number?"

"No thanks, Dudley." Kitty answered softly. "I'm too tired to feel like celebrating now. Plus, I got a lot of thinking to do."

"Oh, ok…" Dudley said with disappointment in his voice. "Well, see you at T.U.F.F tomorrow then. He quickly added with a wave while walking away, "Bye."

"Bye, Dudley." Kitty replied, waving back.

Kitty stayed in her spot for awhile longer, now thinking about her job at T.U.F.F. Well, I suppose I could stay there for the time being, she thought. After all, Dudley really wants me there, so I guess I'll do it for his sake. And, who knows… maybe Petropolis will get a new super villain even better than Snaptrap that I'll forget all about him.

Strangely though, that statement felt completely hollow while she thought it. Feeling restless now, Kitty stood up and headed for home, ready to hit the sack.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for me, she thought while in her bed under the covers. And with those thoughts, she soon began to doze off fell fast asleep.

Kitty technically got her wish, as the next day was better than the last, but only because there was no missions for her to go on the whole entire day. While she was thankful for the opportunity to recharge and do some training in peace, the feline agent soon began to feel restless inside again halfway through the work day. It wasn't long until she began hoping for something to go wrong in Petropolis so she could go on another mission and fight crime.

_I can't believe I'm saying thi_s, she thought to herself, _but I'd even be willing to duel Birdbrain now if the opportunity came up._

With Snaptrap and Chameleon, her two biggest arch rivals now out of the picture for the time being, Kitty began to wonder again if her skills as a T.U.F.F agent were even needed any longer. On the other hand, since Dudley had made her promise to give this idea a lot of thought before making a decision, Kitty decided to honor her word, though didn't know what the point of it was now. Still, she vowed not to do anything rash for the time being.

_I should stay here for at least another week at least and play it by ear then_, Kitty thought to herself, while doing some martial arts training by herself._ I owe Dudley that much as his partner and friend._


	3. Birdbrain's masterplan

Meanwhile, Kitty's desperation request to fight Birdbrain would soon be granted, as the blue feathered fiend was plotting yet another plan to get the citizens of Petropolis to buy homes from his mountain real estate scam.

"I should have thought of this plan years ago." Bird Brain told Zippy during a private chat together, rubbing his hands together with glee.

"So what feathered brain scheme you got cooked up this time?" Zippy inquired.

"I'll have you know this is no feathered brain scheme!" Bird Brain exclaimed, pointing a finger at his simple minded assistant. "This one is brilliant beyond measure!"

"Oh, do tell." Zippy replied. "You got me very curious. How exactly are you going to attack Petropolis this time?"

"Why, The best way possible without drawing attention by those morons at T.U.F.F, of course." Birdbrain explained with a smug look on his face. "Contracts."

"Huh?" Zippy looked at him very perplexed. "Contracts? What do you mean?"

"It's very simple really." Birdbrain replied. "I'm going to make those naïve citizens think I'm giving them a loan deal too good to pass up, but in reality, I'll have a secret fine print, thus having them over a barrel."

While Zippy still looked at him with deep confusion, Birdbrain continued, "I'll force them out of their homes! And then, I'll make it so the only houses they'd want buy are in my mountain real estate. Once they're there, I'll tax them until they're poor beyond despair! Thus, I will have conquered Petropolis without firing a shot!"

Birdbrain then began to laugh heartily, when Zippy asked, "Uh, just curious, boss. How are you going to keep T.U.F.F from finding out and investigating?"

"Let them investigate all they want!" Birdbrain retorted. "Because there's nothing they can do about it. All my contracts will be legal, thus, I can't be prosecuted for breaking any rules." The large blue bird turned to his flying assistant again and asked, "Am I a brilliant evil genius or what?"

"Uh, and just how are you going to get the citizens of Petropolis to sign it without them getting suspicious?" Zippy asked.

"Very simple." Birdbrain replied. "We're going to infiltrate the bank and impersonate those who give out the loans. Then, we make a big sell of how this loan will make it easier for them to afford their house. After their signature is on the paper, the first payment will be required the following week, with an outrageous payment demand. They of course won't be able to pay it, thus, they will have no choice but to foreclose their house and move out. I will then appear to rescue them by offering to sell the citizens my real estate home at bottom market prices. But before they realize it, they will be paying even more than before.

"But what if they try to move out or get out of the lease?" Zippy inquired.

"If they are foolish enough to try that, Zippy, they will suffer dearly for it, for I will have them sign another contract before they move in, secretly stating I will inherit all their possessions if they refuse to make payment or try to leave before doing so. That way, they either pay or they lose everything!"

Zippy had to admit, this plan was brilliant, but was still worried about T.U.F.F interfering. Birdbrain then called for Owl and Bat and said, "Come, my fellow henchmen, we head to the bank at once!"

But unfortunately, they responded with their usual nonsense.

"Who?"

"Where?"

Birdbrain slapped his forehead and muttered to Zippy, "Remind me to fire them after we return."

Zippy answered with her usual banter, "Why?"

Seeing they would be more of a liability than an asset, Birdbrain only took Zippy with him to the bank, but wore well covered disguises as they entered the building to evade suspicion. Using a lock pick, they quietly entered from the back door and waited until those doing loan applications went back there to file the papers in a cabinet. But when they attempted to do so, both Birdbrain and Zippy made their move, ambushing both, taking their clothes and then locking them in the closet.

Zippy then asked, "So what are we going to do with our other disguises?"

Since they now had authentic bank apparel, Birdbrain decided to ditch their current disguises by throwing them in the trash outback and then putting on the proper attire to fool the next line of customers. After putting them on, Birdbrain said to Zippy, "Just follow my lead, and we'll be fine."

Zippy nodded her head, and the two villains went out to initiate their plan. Within minutes, they took a customer back to the office space where Birdbrain's stolen employee work quarters was and began the usual dialogue of conversation.

"So, I hear you're wanting to take out a loan." Birdbrain commented with professionalism in his voice.

"Yes, that's right." The customer said. He then looked perplexed and asked, "Uh, didn't you look different when you were dealing with another customer a couple of minutes ago?"

"Uh, you must have been seeing things." Birdbrain explained. "This is how I always look." Luckily for Birdbrain, he had taken out a bird employee in order to make the customer believe his story."

Birdbrain then said, "Well, if you want a loan that will help out with your finances, let me make a suggestion." He took out his paper where he had wrote his devious loan contract and said, "This one is our best one to date. In fact, we just initiated it this afternoon."

"Really?" the customer inquired with arched eyes. "How so?"

"Take a look at it yourself." Birdbrain replied. "You'll see it's too good to pass up."

The customer did just that, as he read it thoroughly. He then said with a frown, "This has got to be a joke. 0.10 percent monthly payments?"

"That's right." Birdbrain answered with a straight face. "It is a loan to help out those who struggle financially."

"But you'll lose money on this kind of loan eventually." The customer argued.

"Hey, what's a few dollars, when the citizens of Petropolis need it more than we do to help the town flourish?" Birdbrain stated with fake integrity.

"Is this really legit?" The customer inquired, still deeply suspicious.

"Of course." Birdbrain answered. "In fact, for just a five hundred dollar down payment, you can take out a loan up to $100,000 and leave with it in your bank account this very afternoon."

As the customer pondered this decision over, Birdbrain added, "Ok, I'll make you a special deal just because I like you. I'll let you have this deal for only a two hundred dollar down payment."

The customer took out two one hundred dollar bills and said, "Show the money in my bank account and we have a deal."

"Of course, just hand me your debit card, and it's as good as done."

So, the customer did as he was told. Birdbrain input the pin number and made the transfer from the bank's funds. Within ten seconds, the transaction was complete.

"There you go." Birdbrain said. "Just sign the paper and I'll have it verified this afternoon."

The customer did just that, now all smiles. "Wow, this is too good to be true."

"Believe me, it's not." Birdbrain explained. "In fact, I'd advise you to tell all your friends about this deal, as it's only good for this week. Just make sure they ask for Stork yellow beak when they come in."

"Oh, believe me, I will." The customer answered with glee. "Thanks for everything." He said as he turned to leave.

"It was my pleasure, sir." Birdbrain replied as he was leaving. Once he was out of sight, he added with an evil smirk, "Believe me, it was."

Soon, more customers were issued in to his office, with Birdbrain manipulating everyone he could get his hands on. Due to being a brilliant manipulator, the blue bird fooled many of them, including the staff, as he made them believe he was who he was impersonating, including the one Zippy was impersonating as well.

Once the day was over, Zippy asked Birdbrain, "So how many suckers did you entice to sign that contract?"

"Over a hundred." Birdbrain replied with a mischievous grin. "But the plan's just beginning. Soon, I should have thousands under my thumb by the time I'm done here."

Since the employees they were impersonating were a threat to their plan, both of Birdbrain and Zippy abducted them and put them in his personal jail back at his hideout. After they were locked up, Zippy asked, "How are we going to keep the family members of those we kidnapped from getting suspicious?"

"Don't worry about them, Zippy. I have the perfect plan to keep them from finding out."

As it turned out, Birdbrain's job was easier than expected, as Stork yellow beak, was a single man living by himself. The one Zippy impersonated though turned out to be a little more of a challenge, but Birdbrain was able to smooth out any problems, as he made up a story of him having to attend a secret mandatory business conference regarding finances for the rest of the week, and wouldn't be back until then. While the family had a hard time believing it, Birdbrain gave a very convincing explanation, thus buying him time to carry out his plan without them interfering for the time being.

"Prepare for tomorrow, Zippy." Birdbrain told her. "We shall soon sucker so many citizens that Rancho Boobamunga shall be overflowing with Petropolis citizens."

"Sounds good." Zippy said with excitement.

"And you two, keep an eye on this place while we're away." Birdbrain said to his other two stooges.

"Who?"

"Where?"

"You're fired!" Birdbrain yelled, pointing a finger at them. Get your useless butts' outta my sights!"

Again, they replied with the same idiotic banter. Birdbrain was about to grab them and throw them out, when Zippy suggested, "Perhaps it's best you keep them here. After all, somebody has to watch our prisoners while we're at the bank."

Birdbrain groaned loudly, but reluctantly agreed. "Very well, but once I'm done with the bank, they're gone!"

For the rest of the week, Birdbrain and Zippy continued their loan scam undetected, though still drawing suspicion with each passing day. However, Birdbrain was able to keep everything in check, as nobody got suspicious enough to suspect foul play from either of them. By the end of Friday, Birdbrain had gotten over two thousand signatures. He then said to Zippy, "This plan of mind is going perfectly. I haven't seen a move made by T.U.F.F this whole week."

To Birdbrain's advantage, T.U.F.F had been busy dealing with other cases, such as another attempted breakout from the Petropolis prison by Mad Cow, Wild Turkey and Crazy Horse. This mission thankfully kept Kitty busy enough that she temporarily forgot about her problems of feeling restless.

As for the kidnapped employees, Birdbrain released them the following week, brainwashed with no memory of being imprisoned at all. Thus, his tracks were covered up.

The following Monday, Birdbrain made his move, as he now impersonated a debt collector and went house to house, demanding payment.

"What's the meaning of this?" the owner of the house demanded.

"Your first payment is due." Birdbrain explained. "And I expect payment this very hour or else."

"Or else what?" the owner demanded.

"I'll have no choice but to foreclose on your home."

"What?" the owner of the house was beside himself. "But this loan has only monthly payments of 0.10% every month!"

"Ah yes, indeed." Birdbrain replied. "But there is one payment the owner must pay a week after signing it before those low monthly payments can be in effect."

"Where did it say that in the contract?" the house owner demanded. "I read it thoroughly!"

"See for yourself."

And so he did. To his shock, he saw a fine print he didn't see before, one that stated he must make a payment of fifty thousand dollars, or else forfeit the rights to their home.

The house owner then said, "Fine, then I'll use my loan money to pay it off."

"Sorry, but that money isn't validated for your use yet until you make this payment first." Birdbrain reiterated.

"This is criminal!" The house owner shouted, lashing out at Birdbrain. "What you're doing isn't even legal!"

"Ah, but you did sign that contract." Birdbrain explained. "In fact, it clearly states that your house will be taken if payment is not received immediately. Therefore, you must pay or move out this instant."

The owner of the house growled fiercely, as Birdbrain continued. "You should have known that before you signed the loan. So, either make payment or get out this instant."

"You dirty snake!" the owner lashed out. "You think you got me over a barrel? Well, forget it! I'm not moving and you can't make me!"

"Want to bet?"

To the owner's shock, he did have the authority to make him move out. Due to previously brainwashing the bank owner and having him ok this move; the authorities indeed kicked the owner out of his house, with his possessions as his only thing left.

"Let that be a lesson to you." Birdbrain told him sharply. "Don't sign loans without reading the fine print."

"I'll see you in court!" the owner challenged. "You'll pay for this."

"Sorry, dear chap," Birdbrain said. "But this contract clearly states you agreed to give up your rights to contest this in court if you couldn't make your first payment. So, you're out of luck I'm afraid."

As the owner growled so more, Birdbrain said, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more payments to collect. Good day, sir."

And so, Birdbrain went from house to house, demanding the outrageous first payment. To his shock, some were able to pay it off, though it took nearly all their savings to do so. But most on the other hand weren't so lucky. Owner after owner after owner was forced to give up their home after it was obvious he had them over a barrel. It took nearly the entire day, but Birdbrain had evicted a total of nine hundred and fifty citizens from their homes.

This news of many evicted home owners finally did reach the ears of the T.U.F.F agency, but as Birdbrain had thought, they were helpless to stop this.

"Are you saying this greedy owner is going to get away with what's he done?" Kitty demanded of the Chief angrily.

"I'm sorry, Agent Katswell." The chief replied, "But there's nothing we can do about it. The contracts were legal with their authentic signature."

"But that first payment is completely outrageous!" Kitty argued. "Who can pay that?"

"If they were forced to sign those loans against their will, we might be able to do something." The Chief explained. "But as I have heard, they agreed to it willingly without reading the fine print. This is simply a case of, buyer beware."

Kitty though was not convinced. "There is something seriously wrong here. I know those loans were not done ethically."

"While that may be the case," The Chief said. "They weren't done illegally. Our hands are basically tied on this one."

Kitty however wasn't willing to accept that. "I'm going to do some investigating. I smell a rotten rat behind the scenes."

The Chief didn't try to stop her. In fact, even Dudley offered to help. As it turned out, his Mom had taken out one of those loans during the week, losing her home as well. This was personal to him as well.

Meanwhile, the next day, Birdbrain unleashed phase three of his plan. Seeing the hundreds of citizens homeless, he went to appear to be their rescuer. He addressed them now without his disguise, "My fellow citizens, what happened to you has been a terrible crime committed indeed. Therefore, I wish to help you all out."

"What's the catch?" One citizen inquired with deep suspicion. "And why do you remind me of someone?"

Birdbrain shrugged his shoulders and replied, "It must be a coincidence. Anyway, I have decided to do an act of charity for you all and open up my homes in Rancho Boobamunga at very reasonable prices."

"Why should we believe you?" another citizen demanded. "Aren't you a villain who just wants to use us for your own gain?"

"I can understand your deep suspicion of my past intentions, but believe me, I have reformed my ways. That is why I'm offering you to let you live in my real estate homes for a small fee. All I ask is that you give me a chance to show you I'm a changed bird."

As they thought it over, he added, "I'll even let you stay in my homes for free the first month. In fact, if you will agree to this, I will file a lawsuit against that bank who wrongfully took your homes and demand he gives you back what he has stolen from you."

"We can't sue him." Another citizen explained. "Our contract specifically states we gave up our rights to sue should we fail to make payment."

"Ah, but that doesn't mean I can't do so on behalf of you." Birdbrain explained.

"You mean…"

"Yes, I will do this, my fellow citizens. All I ask in return for this favor of mine is that you live in my beautiful homes for the time being. What do you say?"

Birdbrain's deal seemed too good to pass up, but before they agreed, one asked, "How much is our monthly payments should we agree to this?"

"For you, I will allow you to make monthly payments at a low 0.75%, but only if you agree to come live in Rancho Boobamunga this very minute. So, do we have a deal?"

Birdbrain's charismatic speech had finally won them over, as they nodded their heads and headed towards his real estate home to sign the papers.

_Heh, heh, little do they realize, with very passing month, I add a 0.50% tax hike._ Birdbrain thought to himself. Soon, I'll have them so poor, everything they own will be mine.

Meanwhile, while this was going on, Kitty did an investigation at the bank with Dudley by her side. She soon began to interrogate the bank staff.

"What can you tell me about that new loan deal?" Kitty asked one staff worker.

"Not much really." The worker replied. "All I know is, the owner had Stork Yellow beak filling out the forms last week. Next thing I know, he's demanding a payment of $50,000."

As Kitty took down notes, he added, "Seriously, why would anyone agree to such an outrageous payment that had to be paid that instant or lose your home in the process?"

"An excellent question indeed." Kitty commented with deep suspicion. "I think it's time we had a talk with the owner, wouldn't you agree, Dudley?"

Dudley though was again distracted, as he saw a vending machine that had exotic coffee drinks. "Ooh, check that out." he said, looking at intently. "This one gives you a triple whipped chocolate mocha deluxe."

"DUDLEY!"

"What?"

"Have you forgotten why we're here?"

"Uh, no?"

"Your Mom lost her home, remember?" Kitty scolded sharply. "The same home you were living in before you became a T.U.F.F agent."

"Oh, yea, right… Let's get cracking!" He then ran off shouting once again, "Hi Gee-Gee!"

_That line is really starting to get on my nerves,_Kitty thought to herself with a groan.

Minutes later, Kitty had a word with the bank owner. However, there was something different about him than before as she asked him question after question.

"Why in the world did you make such an outrageous loan application?" Kitty demanded.

The bank owner shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Well, it was a really good deal. They would get a super low interest rate for a 50,000 fee within the week."

"But they would lose their homes if they couldn't make that payment?" Kitty argued. "How could be put such a cruel fine print like that in there and live with yourself?"

To her surprise, he again tried to justify it. "I didn't force them to sign it. They did so of their own free will."

"And you're telling me they read the entire contract before signing the application?" Kitty asked with arched eyebrows.

"Yes, that's what my employee Stork yellow beak told me anyway."

As Kitty pondered this over, Dudley lashed out at the bank owner, "Do you realize what your stupid loan application did to my Mom? She lost her home because of your greed!"

Dudley was about to attack him, when Kitty grabbed him by his ears and said, "Dudley, we're in no position to attack him without repercussions. While this was done unethically, he did do it by the law."

"So you're just going to let him get away with it?" Dudley demanded in shock.

"No, of course not!" Kitty retorted sharply. "That's why I'm doing a full investigation to see for myself if there's anything we can do to nail him!"

"Your efforts will be in vain." The bank owner told them after she put him in his seat next to hers. "I did everything by the book. I haven't broken any laws of Petropolis."

"We shall see about that." Kitty shot back. "C'mon, Dudley, let's talk to that stork yellow beak fellow and see if we can find out any new information."

To Kitty's shock however, the stork gave about the exact same story the bank owner did, almost as if it was rehearsed, thus deepening her suspicions.

"I smell a rat here, Dudley." Kitty told him as they left the bank. "And I don't mean Snaptrap either.

"Well, is there anything we can do to stop them?" Dudley asked her.

Before Kitty could give him an answer, Dudley's Mom arrived at the bank to talk with them. "Oh there are you, son. Guess what, I have wonderful news."

"What is it, Mom?" Dudley asked with curiosity.

"I found a new place to live, and it's even cheaper than my old house."

"Huh?" Kitty and Dudley said this almost in unison

_Something's very wrong about this_, Kitty thought. _How in the world did she find a new house so fast after getting kicked out of her old one not even twenty four hours ago?_

"Well, where is it, Mom?" Dudley asked her.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but it's actually in Rancho Boobamunga."

"Rancho Boobamunga?" Again, both agents nearly said this in unison.

"That's the place with those rip off homes that lousy Birdbrain was trying to con the citizens of Petropolis into buying awhile back." Kitty commented, now more suspicious than ever.

"Oh no, they're not rip off homes at all." Peg explained. "In fact, he gave me and the other citizens who were kicked out of their homes a special deal."

"Oh, he did, did he?" Kitty inquired. Her suspicion was deepening with every passing minute.

"You think it's a scam?" Dudley asked her.

"It has to be." Kitty replied confidently. "The timing of this is just too coincidental for it to be an act of charity on his part." She then turned to Dudley's Mom and asked, "Uh, you didn't by any chance happen to sign the papers yet, did you?"

"Yes, I did." Pep replied enthusiastically. "That's why I came here so I could show my Dudley my new home."

Kitty slapped her forehead and thought with a groan, _Great, we're too late again_. But another thought soon came to her mind.

_Then again, perhaps I could use this opportunity to do a more thorough investigation._

Kitty asked Peg after a brief pause, "You mind if I came along? I'd actually like to see your new home too."

"Of course, the more the merrier." Dudley's Mom replied. "After all, you are a close friend of my little Dudley here."

"Mom, you're embarrassing me." Dudley whined with a slight blush.

"Now, now, Dudley." Peg said to him with a bit of authority in her voice. "I can call you that if I so want to. After all, I am your mother."

Before Dudley could protest again, Kitty said to Peg, "Uh, why don't we get going right now, if you don't mind."

"Of course." Dudley's Mom replied.

The three of them then got in her car and headed to Rancho Boobamunga, arriving at the gates within ten minutes. As they approached the guard shack, Birdbrain was given a heads up by the guard himself, as he saw who was in the car with Peg.

"What, T.U.F.F agents?" Birdbrain said annoyed. "What are they doing here?"

He then gave orders to the guard, as he told Peg, "I'm sorry, but only you can come in. Visitors are not allowed in here for the time being."

"I'll have you know this is my son and his friend." Peg replied firmly. "My contract specifically states I'm allowed to bring in family and friends if I so desire."

Peg had Birdbrain in a pickle, as he did allow this, but was starting to kick himself for writing that in. However, he gave another secret set of orders to the guard.

"All right, they can come in." the guard said. "But only for a few hours."

"My son Dudley can stay as long as he likes, and if you try to make him leave, I'll make you quickly regret it." Peg told him firmly again.

Birdbrain now began to regret offering her a home, but decided not to make a scene, as he saw his guard was about to enforce his authority with her. So, he ordered him to give her the ok on this demand.

"Very well, the boss says he'll make an exception in your case." As he opened the gate, he said, "Have a nice visit."

Once they were inside, Kitty said to Dudley, "There's something very off about that whole guard situation."

"What do you mean?" Dudley asked her.

"I mean, I get the feeling Birdbrain doesn't want us here." the feline agent explained. "He's probably afraid we'll find something to ruin his whole plan."

"Oh, don't be silly, Mitzy." Peg told her. "Birdbrain's a good fellow now."

Kitty was tempted to argue with her about it, but decided it was pointless now. So, she instead kept silence and would look around for any clues that came their way.

Halfway inside Rancho Boobamunga, Peg parked the car, as she arrived at her new home within the real estate area.

"Well, what do you think?" Peg asked Dudley. "Isn't it marvelous?"

Even Kitty had to admit it did look luxurious from the outside. It was basically a one story home, colored white with a bit of blue mixed in. It even had a little front lawn for her to water and a small dirt patch for her plant flowers if she so desired.

"Whoa, check it out." Dudley commented impressed. "This is nicer than my old home."

"Yea, too nice though." Kitty muttered to herself.

"So, shall we head inside?" Peg offered.

Both Dudley and Kitty nodded their heads, as Peg used her key to unlock the door. Once they were inside, the feline agent was even more aghast at what she saw.

"This can't be for real!" Kitty exclaimed shocked.

Dudley's reaction on the other hand was one of pure excitement. "Oh yea, this place is awesome! I so want to live here!"

He soon began to examine his Mom's new home with pure delight, as it was indeed a sight to behold. It had a lovely red carpet in the living room, blue linoleum floor tiles in the kitchen area, a large sink, white marble counters, even a big screen HD TV.

And yes, it had a spacious white marble toilet; one Dudley immediately found and began to drink out of.

"Dudley!" Kitty scolded after catching him there.

"What?" He asked, confused with water dripping from his mouth.

"Don't you think this is all too good to be true?" Kitty said to him. "I mean, this real estate market belongs to one of Petropolis' main criminals."

"I thought you said he was a weakling." Dudley reminded her.

"I did, but that doesn't mean I can just ignore a crime he's secretly committing." Kitty reiterated. "There's something going on here, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it."

"Don't be so suspicious of that nice bird." Peg told her. "I really believe he's changed for the better."

Kitty though wasn't ready to believe that, especially with all the controversy surrounding the bank loans. She then asked, "Mind if I see your contractual agreement for a bit?"

"Be my guest, dearie." Peg replied. "But I really doubt you'll find anything out of the ordinary."

After Dudley's Mom handed it to her, Kitty looked over it thoroughly; looking for anything she could find to incriminate Birdbrain. To her surprise, there was nothing within the contract that was the least bit suspicious, or even shady for that matter. Everything seemed legit.

"This cannot be for real." Kitty told Dudley after reading it thoroughly. "Birdbrain is letting them stay here for 0.75% monthly payments of the actual price of the house."

"Well, maybe he has changed as my Mom thinks." Dudley replied, trying to make sense of this.

"No way." Kitty said firmly. "I'd sooner believe Birdbrain was of an extinct bird species than believe he's now an upstanding citizen."

Just then, the guard at the shack knocked on the door. Peg went to the door and opened it, with him soon saying afterward, "I'm here to remind you that your guest, Miss Katswell, is to leave the premises soon. She is not part of your family, so she's only allowed a brief visit."

"And I'll have you know, buster," Peg retorted sharply, "That I will allow her to stay as long as I want. You have no say in this."

Kitty sensed this could get ugly, so she decided to calm the waters, saying sincerely, "Its ok, I need to get back to T.U.F.F anyway. Just allow me to wash up and I'll be on my way."

"Very well, make it fast." The guard told her.

Kitty then pretended to do so, but in reality, she was sneaking the contract she had in her hands into her pocket. Once it was tightly secure, Kitty said her goodbyes to Peg and Dudley. But before she left, she whispered a code to him, confusing not only Dudley, but making the guard suspicious as well.

"What did you just whisper to him, Miss Katswell?" the guard demanded.

"Oh, I was just saying, that I love him and can't wait for our date tomorrow." Kitty explained, trying to not blush at the words she had just said.

"What?" All three of them said that in unison, completely surprised. Dudley was even a bit horrified by that statement.

"You can't be serious." The guard said. "You love this buffoon?"

"Of course." Kitty replied, as sincerely as she could. "That's why I was trying to tell him secretly because it's still kind of a private matter between us."

"But, Kitty, you didn't…"

Kitty put a hand over his mouth and said with a giggle, "You silly puppy. That's exactly what I said. I was trying to get you anxious for our big date at T.U.F.F tomorrow, right?"

Dudley continued to look at her deeply confused, as she then winked at him. Finally, Dudley got a small clue as to what she was trying to say. "Oh, right… our date at T.U.F.F" He soon began to chuckle while adding, "I guess in my deep anxiety it slipped my mind."

Seeing he was catching on, Kitty said, "Ok, then. I'll see at T.U.F.F tomorrow. Talk to you soon, big guy."

Kitty then walked out with the guard in tow. He asked her while they walked, "Were you really serious back there?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Kitty asked, trying to not let on she was concerned about getting caught.

"Because I gotta tell ya," the guard commented. "He is the farthest thing from dating material I've ever seen."

"Well, you know what they say, opposites attract." Kitty explained to him.

'Err.. yea…"

Once they were at the gate, the guard opened it up and let her out. "Thanks for stopping by, Miss Katswell. Come back soon and visit us again sometime."

"Yea, I'll be sure to do that."

Kitty then walked out and went around the corner, now dropping her act. She knew Birdbrain was getting scared about her catching him doing something criminal, which explained why the guard had her leave so soon.

Dudley meanwhile was trying to make sense of what Kitty whispered in her ear. Peg on the other hand actually had believed what she had said earlier.

"Is it really true, Dudley?" she asked

"Is what true, Mom?" Dudley asked, now losing his train of thought.

"That you and Mitzy are dating now."

Dudley looked at her with completely flushed cheeks and replied, trying not to blow Kitty's charade, "It's Kitty, Mom. And, uh yea, I guess we are."

Peg hugged her son tightly and said, "Oh, I'm so happy for you, Dudley dear. You couldn't have found a nicer girl to settle down with. Although I will admit she's a bit too suspicious for her own good."

"It's what makes her an excellent agent, Mom."

"Yea, I guess so, Dudley."

"Uh, will you excuse me a sec?" Dudley said. "I need to use the bathroom."

"Ok, just make sure you don't drink out of the toilet again."

"Uh, right… I'll be sure to do that." Dudley replied sheepishly.

After he headed into the bathroom, Dudley then began to try and deduce what Kitty had whispered to him. As it turned out, she had whispered a four numbered code. The problem was, Dudley wasn't familiar with it. The code she had whispered was none other than 3579.

_Man, now I wished I'd paid attention more to the T.U.F.F code book_, Dudley thought to himself. _How do I find out without blowing our cover?_

While this was going on, the guard reported to Birdbrain what he had heard.

"What, agent Katswell and Puppy, a couple?"

"That's why they told me, sir."

Birdbrain furrowed his brow and stated, "It has to be a diversion. These two are too diverse to even have such thoughts. Plus, I know they're both snooping around, trying to unravel my master plan."

"So what should we do about Agent Puppy then?" The guard asked him.

Birdbrain replied after thinking it over briefly, "Let him stay here for now. He's too much of an idiot to figure it out by himself. The bigger threat is without a doubt Kitty Katswell. Her intuition and determination for justice could ruin my plan in a heartbeat. That's why we must keep away from any clues at all costs."

"Don't worry, boss," the guard told him. "I'll see to it she's not allowed back in."

"Good." Birdbrain said, somewhat relieved. "However, there's still a chance she could have seen my contract and find out it's hidden print."

"Relax, sir. I saw Agent Katswell with it, but she left the room without it when I escorted her from the room."

Birdbrain though was still very suspicious. "Did you check her pockets before she left? Agent Katswell might have put it in there before she left."

The guard then looked at him guilt ridden, as the large blue bird quickly smacked him upside the head for his mistake. "You idiot! Do you realize she could take that back to T.U.F.F and use it against us this very night?"

"Don't worry, boss." the guard said. "I'll have our squad on the lookout for her and incarcerate her if discovered."

"See that you do!"

And with those words, the guard went out and alerted the Rancho Boobamunga security force to be on the lookout for her. Within minutes, they left the mountain real estate area and began a thorough search.

Kitty Katswell though was aware of this possibility, now hiding in the thick shrubbery around Rancho Boobamunga and began to study the contract thoroughly with a small flashlight in hand.

_There's gotta be some fine print here I'm not seeing_, she thought to herself. _I guess I'll just have to study every single part of this paper in order to find what I'm looking for._

Back in Peg's house, Dudley by now was completely stumped about Kitty's code. So, he decided to call T.U.F.F and get their help. Thankfully for the white dog, Birdbrain hadn't tapped the phone due to underestimating his abilities. Dudley called T.U.F.F's number and got in contact with Keswick.

"Ah, Agent Puppy, you have any n-n-news about Birdbrain?"

"No, Keswick. Although, I do have a code I need help deciphering from Agent Katswell."

"Well, what's the c-c-code?" Keswick inquired.

"I don't have much time due to the suspicion of Birdbrain." Dudley explained, "So I'll have to say it and then get off."

"All right then. What's the a-a-a code?"

Dudley quickly told him, as Keswick wrote it down, saying, "Ooh, that's a b-b-big one. I'll have it taken care of immediately."

"What's the code mean anyway?" Dudley asked with curiosity.

"I think its better I don't tell you, in case the phone lines are being t-t-tapped as we speak." Keswick replied. "The important thing is that you help Agent K-K-Katswell with this investigation."

"Right. I'm on it." Dudley told him.

Dudley then hung up the phone and sat down on the couch to think.

"What's troubling you, Dudley?" Peg asked him.

"I'm trying to think of a way to help out Kitty, but I don't know how to without drawing attention from Birdbrain. What do I do?"

Peg unfortunately didn't know how to answer that, so she answered instead, "Just trust your instincts and mind, Dudley dear. You'll think of something. I have faith in you."

While her words slightly embarrassed him, Dudley appreciated her support nonetheless.

Thirty minutes later, near the shrubbery where Kitty was hiding in for the time being, a car soon drove up and stopped, dropping off what looked like a small box. It then took off and did a U-turn, heading back where it came. Kitty had watched this whole event with deep suspicion, but once it began to leave, she took out her infrared goggles and examined the car up close. As it turned out, it was an unmarked T.U.F.F spy car.

_Way to go, Dudley_, Kitty thought to herself, now with glee on her face. _You came through for me in the clutch._

Kitty then sneaked out of the bushes as fast, but as quietly as she could and took the box, heading back to the shrubbery and hiding in its camouflage. Using her sharp claws to open the box, Kitty found it contained the contents she was looking for, a special ink kit, one that able to decipher whether or not there are hidden words within Birdbrain's contract.

Unfortunately though, this stealth move of T.U.F.F's did not go undetected by Birdbrain and his henchmen. The guard at the gate soon informed him of the car that drove up and left.

"What, an unmarked T.U.F.F car drove up near my real estate homes and left a package before taking off?"

"That's right, sir."

"Well where is the package?" Birdbrain demanded.

"No idea." The guard replied sheepishly. "When I went to find it, it was already gone."

Birdbrain slapped him upside the head again. "Did you not even check to see if that meddling Kitty Katswell happened to take it before reporting to me?"

"Uh, no, sir. I didn't see any sign of her anywhere."

Birdbrain soon groaned loudly with disgust. "We've got to fine her ASAP. She probably got a package that will help her find out my hidden print. If that agent discovers it, she could blow my whole operation."

"I wouldn't worry about that, sir." The guard told him. "She would have to prove you used a special invisible ink to even have a chance to incriminate you."

"Yes, that's true…" Birdbrain said, pondering to himself. He then realized there was still one issue left to resolve. "We'll need to get those contracts back from our buyers and make it look like they didn't read the fine print when they find out we raised the percentage rate on the monthly payments."

"Will do, sir."

"But in the meantime, find that troublemaking feline and incarcerate her in my prison." Birdbrain ordered him. "She must be stopped at all costs!"

"You can count on me." The guard replied. And with those words, he went back to his post.

Birdbrain meanwhile began to brood to himself. "If we don't stop her this very night, my whole plan will be ruined."

His words couldn't have been accurate, as Kitty was doing exactly that that very moment. She quickly poured some the special ink on the page, first beginning with the back of it, testing to see if he hid anything on it. Surprisingly, there were no secret words on the back of the contract, making the feline agent arch her eyebrows.

"That's odd." Kitty said. "I thought he'd at least be stupid enough to use the back to imply there are hidden charges on here."

She then looked at the front, trying to deduce where he could have hidden any words there, since its sentence structure was very compacted together, even for a professional contract.

"There's no place to hide any words on the front except this one little spot above the signature." Kitty said to herself softly.

That's when it hit her. "Maybe this is where he hid it." Kitty shrugged her shoulders and commented, "It can't hurt to find out."

Kitty poured the ink in that spot and rubbed it in. Within seconds, words began to form, making her gasp. As she thought, there were words. And it wasn't just any words. It was words that would be part of the evidence to incriminate Birdbrain.

It read like this:

The owner of Rancho Boobamunga reserves the right to increase the rate of the monthly percentage payment any time he chooses without informing the homeowners. The homeowners must make all payments demanded of him or her before each deadline or shall forfeit his property as part of the payment instead.

_So, using invisible ink to trick your clients, eh?_ Kitty thought angrily. _Well, your plan's about to go up in smoke._

Kitty soon realized how serious this fine print was, as each owner had bought the house with a ten year payment plan.

_That vile Birdbrain has it so they have to pay whatever he demands for the next ten years, or they'll lose everything. _

Outraged by his deceit, Kitty decided to climb over the wall and get more evidence, some that would make it so he couldn't explain it away.

Just then, Kitty heard some noise outside. Turning her head, she saw it was the guard with a flashlight, looking around the shrubbery. Kitty quickly realized he was looking for her, and that package the unmarked T.U.F.F had dropped off.

_Drat!_ Kitty thought to herself. _How did Birdbrain find out so quickly?_

Kitty then ducked deeper into the bushes as the guard continued his search outside. She quickly realized she would have to take him down, or risk being caught and incarcerated.

Thirty seconds later, the guard began to walk over to where she was hiding. It was now or never. Laying flat on her stomach, Kitty carefully crawled to a safe spot, now behind a tree, where the flashlight couldn't shine on her. Deciding to catch him off guard as well, Kitty used the kit as bait to get vulnerable for the time being.

Once she was in position, Kitty waited anxiously, as the guard soon flashed his light on the area where she was once hiding. Seeing the broken branches and small hole, the guard quickly deduced she was once here. He then took a closer looking, moving part of the shrubbery out of the way. It was at that moment he found the kit Kitty had received from T.U.F.F.

"Ah ha, she was definitely here all right." The guard commented softly. "She can't be too far from here, but just to be on the safe side, I better call in for backup."

That was the moment Kitty was waiting for. As he went to call for assistance, Kitty used her agility and razor sharp reflexes and lunged at him, hitting the guard in the face with a strong aerial karate kick. The guard was knocked to the ground senseless, about a few feet away from the shrubbery. Kitty then made her move, as she grabbed him by his shirt and said as he groaned in pain, "Sorry, buster, but this is one crime you and your boss aren't getting away with."

Kitty went for the kill, as she spun him around a couple time and then leveled him another aerial karate kick, this time, to his chest, sending him flying against the outside brick wall of the Rancho Boobamunga estate. The guard hit the wall hard, as his head and back took the brunt of the blow. He quickly fell to the ground, now out cold. Kitty dusted her hands and soon walked over to the knocked out guard, taking his walkie talkie from him. Suspecting it could have a tracking device inside; she immediately threw it on the ground and smashed it with her right foot.

Once that was done, Kitty realized she was going to need to help Dudley get out of Rancho Boobamunga without Birdbrain finding out. So, she ran to the nearest payphone outside the place and called T.U.F.F, asking for them to have another unmarked T.U.F.F car parked outside. When Keswick protested the dangers of this idea, Kitty then told him he took out the guard, thus giving him enough time to try and escape. Hearing that eased his fears, as he immediately sent a car to Rancho Boobamunga that instant.

Kitty quickly hung up the phone and then went back to jump over the wall. Her plan was to catch Birdbrain in the act of monologing and have it on tape, thus, he would have no way to deny his true intentions of his real estate scam.

Unfortunately for the feline agent, Birdbrain soon called for a status report from the guard at the shack. But he got no answer after it rang many times, deepening his suspicions.

"Don't tell me that troublemaker Katswell already took him out!" Birdbrain exclaimed angrily.

He then pounded his desk in a rage, realizing his plan was in serious jeopardy now.

Meanwhile, at Peg's home, the phone rang, with Dudley quickly answering it, finding out it was Keswick on the other line.

"What's up, Keswick?" he asked.

"Agent K-K-Katswell is having us send you a T.U.F.F vehicle to escape from the Birdbrain's mountain estate area."

"Really? Sounds good." Dudley commented with a smile. "I'll be ready to go as soon it arrives."

"In case this call is being t-t-tapped, wait until it rings five times, then head out immediately." Keswick informed him.

"Will do. Agent Puppy, out."

After he hung up the phone, his Mom asked him, "Who was that, dear?"

"Oh, that was T.U.F.F, Mom. They're helping me escape."

"Are you sure that's a wise idea?" Pep asked him. "It could be dangerous this time of night."

"I know, but it's my job." Dudley explained to her. "And besides, I've gotta help Kitty out too. Who knows what trouble she could get herself into?"

Peg understood this, so she said, "Well, at least promise me you won't do anything too risky while on duty, Dudley dear."

"I promise, Mom."

Back in Birdbrain's main quarters, he began to go over the tapped phone lines to see if he could find anything useful to use against his enemies. As it turned out, the pay phones outside were some he did tap. He soon found Kitty's call and played it back. While the tape played, his anger increased, eventually throwing his coffee mug against the wall in front of him, breaking it into many pieces.

Zippy, who was nearby, said to him, "Calm down, boss. You're going to give yourself a stroke."

Birdbrain though paid no attention to her and said, "So, that agent Katswell is going to help Dudley escape, eh? That can only mean one thing. She's planning to raid my mountain estate this very night and incriminate me!"

"Well, what can we do about it?" Zippy asked him, now deeply concerned.

Birdbrain thought it over, as an evil grin soon came over his face. "Well, if she wants to catch me in the act, then I'll give it to her."

"Huh?"

Birdbrain quickly whispered his plan to Zippy, making her now grin as well. "Ooh, that's ingenious, boss. She'll never see it coming."

"Just make sure you're in position when I give the signal." Birdbrain told her firmly. "It's the only way this plan will succeed."

"You can count on me, sir. I won't let you down." And with those words, Zippy flew out of his office quarters to get ready. After she did so, Birdbrain rubbed his hands together and said, "And now to set the trap."

He then called for Bat and Owl, his two imbeciles and had a chat with them.

Meanwhile, Kitty continued her stealth mission while inside Rancho Boobamunga, carefully walking from house to house in order to get closer to Birdbrain's main quarters. She had brought a recorder with her, one she planned to use to record hopefully a monologue of his and use it against him. Within minutes, she finally arrived at his home where he was staying. Using a hookshot, she climbed up to the 2nd floor, where she saw him chitchatting with Bat and Owl. During this time, she saw he was talking to them about stuff that wasn't of any use to her.

"Can't you morons understand what I'm trying to say?" Birdbrain shouted at them.

"Who?"

"Where?"

Birdbrain slapped his forehead at their predictable dialogue. Talking to them was basically making him drop IQ points.

Just then, Kitty heard what sounded like a dog howling, making her turn around, wondering where it was coming from. Moments later, Birdbrain began to talk again.

"Anyway, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to share my brilliant plan with you two idiots."

"Who?"

"Where?"

"Shut up and listen!" Birdbrain yelled at them. The two of them finally did as they were told for a change and complied.

Kitty on the other hand got her recorder ready, now with a big grin on her face as she turned it on. _Heh_, she thought, _I knew you couldn't help but brag about this to all your stooges._

"Anyway," Birdbrain continued. "I should tell you; this was most brilliant plan yet. I mean, blowing up toilets was small potatoes; even flooding Petropolis was pretty nice. But what makes this one even nicer, is the fact I did it legally, and yet still got away with it."

Birdbrain then began to laugh heartily, as Kitty kept recording.

Moments later, he continued, "I mean, really, who would've thought I could scam the citizens out of their homes and not get prosecuted? It was just too good of a plan I have to say."

He then asked his two stooges, "Either of you want to take a guess as to how I pulled this off?"

But as usual, they repeated their mindless banter. Birdbrain shook his head and said, "Never mind, I'll just tell you myself." He soon began to pace around the room as he continued, "You see, I made them think they were getting a great loan at an unbelievable low rate, when in reality, they would end up paying more than they ever bargained for. And what makes this accomplishment even better is the fact I made them think it was done by the Petropolis national bank. Now homeless and feeling betrayed, I come in to save the day, making the citizens think I'm their rescuer by offering to let them stay in Rancho Boobamunga for a low price. They thought I was going to fix their problems, when instead, I'm only going to increase them."

_Oh, do tell_, Kitty thought to herself.

"Thanks to the wonders of invisible ink, I hid a fine print, one they'll have to pay whatever I demand, or end up losing everything in the process." He then turned to his stooges again and asked, "Am I a brilliant mastermind or what?"

But of course, they replied to their boss with the same annoying banter from before. Having enough of it, Birdbrain said pointing a finger at them, "Leave my quarters this instant! You're dismissed!"

Both Bat and Owl did as they were told. While they left, Kitty shut off her recorder, thinking to herself pumped up_, Yes! I got him now. There's no way he'll weasel his way out of this._

Kitty then went to jump down and meet up with Dudley, that is until she was ambushed. Out of nowhere, Zippy came flying in, wrapping a big chain around her.

"Hey, what in the…?"

"Sorry, Agent Katswell." Zippy retorted to her, "but I'm afraid you're going to be tied up at the moment."

As Kitty struggled to get free, Birdbrain opened up the window near where she was standing; now grinning evilly at her. "Hello, agent Katswell. How nice to see you again."

"You fiend!" Kitty said to him. "How did you know I was up here?"

"It was simple really." Birdbrain explained. "I put out some bait, and you grabbed it, hook, line and sinker."

It was then Kitty realized that monologue of his was a setup. He had used her eagerness to bust him as a weapon against her.

"Now then," Birdbrain said. "I think it's time you had an accident, a very painful one if you catch my drift."

Kitty glared at him and replied, "You won't get away with this, Birdbrain! You still have to deal with Dudley."

"Oh, please…" Birdbrain retorted, giving her a small raspberry from his tongue. "He's too stupid to be of any help to you now."

While this had been going on, Dudley finally heard the phone ring again. If it rang five times and stopped, that was Keswick's signal the T.U.F.F spy car was outside and ready to go.

After the 5th ring, it stopped, giving the large white dog the message he needed. He quickly headed for the door and said to his Mom, "Be back in a bit."

"Be careful out there, Dudley dear."

"I know, Mom, I know."

Dudley then ran outside as fast as he could and climbed the wall, landing on the grass outside. As Keswick had said, there was the car. Since all T.U.F.F cars used the same key code, Dudley was able to start it up without any problems.

"Ok, now to find Kitty and give Birdbrain a good old fashioned butt whuppin!"

Back at Birdbrain's home, the large blue bird was ready to initiate his next part of the plan. He then clapped his hands and said to Zippy, "I want you to fly as high as you can while grabbing onto her and then drop this troublemaking feline to the ground below.

"But, boss," Zippy argued. "I'm not strong enough to carry someone that heavy for too long."

"I'm aware of that." Birdbrain replied. "Just do the best you can."

Zippy sighed heavily and did as she was told. While she used her feet to grab Kitty, she said, "Time for your big drop in the sky."

"If you dare try to lift me," Kitty threatened. "I'll scream and let Dudley know where you are."

"Oh no you won't." Birdbrain reiterated, slapping a large piece of duck tape around her mouth. "You should know I always tie up my loose ends, especially with those who don't know when to stop meddling in my personal crimes!" He then ordered Zippy, "Take her up at once!"

"Will do, boss."

"And don't drop her until you're officially exhausted." Birdbrain added. "I want her to fall as high as possible, reducing this troublemaker to a gooey pancake!"

"As you wish, sir." And with those words, Zippy began to fly up, using her wings to help up ascend upwards.

Meanwhile, Dudley started up the car and drove through the guard shack, destroying the bar used to barricade unwelcomed guests, and began to search for Kitty.

"Where could she be?" Dudley wondered to himself as he drove.

Agent Puppy now drove inside the mountain estate road as fast, but as methodically as possible. He looked to the left, right, even up to try and find his partner, but there was no sign of her anywhere.

"I wonder if I'm too late." Dudley said to himself, deeply concerned. But he soon shook his head, dismissing those fears, saying, "I will find Kitty and help her out if it's the last thing I do."

Seconds later, he turned his head and saw the full moon, making him look at it with awe. "Wow, the moon sure is bright tonight."

However, as he looked at it, something caught his eye in the middle of it, making him arch an eyebrow "What in the world is that? It looks like a bird carrying someone up towards the…"

In that instant, it hit him what was going on. "KITTY!"

Moments later, he saw he was about to crash head on into a building, making him slam on the brakes while turning the wheel completely to left. Dudley however wasn't able to slow down in time, crashing into the nearby building, moderately damaging the left side of his car.

Unfortunately for Dudley, his scream and crash was heard by Birdbrain, as he turned around and saw the white dog in a T.U.F.F car nearby. He then shouted to Zippy, "That's high enough! Drop her!"

"What did you say, boss?" Zippy asked, as she continued to carry her upwards

"I said, drop her!"

"But I thought you wanted me to…"

"Don't argue with me, Zippy!" Birdbrain yelled. "Dudley's found us. Just drop her already so we can escape!"

"Ok, you're the boss, sir."

As they were arguing, Dudley refired the engine and took off again, now heading towards Birdbrain's home. Seconds later, Zippy finally let go of Kitty, as she soon began to plummet to the ground.

Dudley immediately saw this, now panicking inside. "KITTY! NO!"

He then activated the jet engines, flying up towards her. He saw this was going to be very close. Putting the jet engine now on full throttle, Dudley went all out to try and save his friend and partner from disaster.

As Kitty continued to plummet to the ground below, screaming even with the duck tape on her mouth, Dudley flew closer and closer towards her. He soon realized he was only going to have one shot to grab the feline agent.

_Ok, this is it,_ Dudley thought. _Don't screw up_.

Seeing he was going to be a bad angle when he arrived, Dudley knew there was only one spot he could grab her, her tail. But since she was in danger, Dudley decided to forget about the awkwardness of that moment and went all out. Seconds later, as Kitty dropped by him, Dudley reached with his right arm as far as he could, grabbing the tip of her tail with one quick swoop of his hand. At first, it almost slipped out of his grasp, but Dudley held on tightly, saving her from near death.

"Gotcha, Kitty!" he said, now relived.

Birdbrain quickly saw she was saved, making him jump up and down in a rage. "That blasted agent Puppy! I should have known better than to underestimate him!"

"Well, what do we do now, boss?" Zippy asked him.

"Only one thing to do… escape."

Birdbrain then headed towards his chopper on the opposite side of his home and prepared to take off. Zippy said to him as he was igniting the engines, "You know, if you could fly like me, you wouldn't need a silly helicopter to escape."

"Shut up and help me get out of here, you featherbrained ninny!"

"As you wish, boss."

Meanwhile, as Dudley was trying to hoist Kitty up to safety, the feline agent began to gesture with her head vibrantly.

"What is it, Kitty?"

Kitty was trying to tell him to look ahead, but with duck tape on her mouth, that wasn't possible. Thankfully though, Dudley soon saw it himself, making him steer up and to the left to evade crashing into an upcoming building. However, by doing so, he eventually lost his grip and dropped her again.

Dudley though quickly changed direction, now nose-diving towards the ground. Using precision and having a bit of luck on his side, Dudley was able to catch her this time, as she now landed in the passenger seat, just barely missing a nearby building on the right side as he did so.

Now deeply relieved, Dudley said to her, "Man, that was a close one. Good thing I came for you when I did, huh?"

It was then Dudley realized she was still tied up with tape around her mouth. So, he grabbed the taped off mouth, with her saying to him sharply after he did so, "Well, it's about time!"

"Boy, you sure are a grateful one." Dudley remarked with a frown.

"I'm sorry, Dudley, but I'm just really ticked right now." Kitty said to him.

"I guess I can't blame you. So how you going to get those chains off anyway?" Dudley inquired.

"Use your laser gun and cut off the lock bolt." Kitty replied.

Dudley did just that. Using precise accuracy, the laser gun cut the lock bolt off within seconds, now allowing Kitty to free herself of the chains.

"Thanks, Dudley." Kitty said, now sighing relieved.

"So, where to now?" Dudley asked her.

"Follow that chopper." Kitty told him with fierce anger. "I've got a score to settle with that vile bird."

"Oh yea, it's on now! Hi Gee-Gee!" And with those words, he mashed the accelerator to the floor, now in hot pursuit.

During this time, Birdbrain had left his mountain estate and was heading for his secret hideout. While traveling, the large blue bird muttered, "I cannot believe this… My brilliant plan, shot to pieces, thanks to those meddling agents."

"Don't worry about it, boss." Zippy said to him. "You'll get em next time."

"Believe me, Zippy; the next time we meet, they won't know what hit them!"

Seconds later, lasers flew around the chopper, making Zippy turn her head and said with deep concern, "Uh, boss, I think that next time is coming soon than you would like."

Birdbrain turned his head around too and commented with horror, "What in the… How did they find me so easily?"

"I think the better question is how are we going to fend them off?" Zippy reiterated.

"The chopper's just ahead." Kitty said to Dudley. "Get me in position so I can wallop him!"

"You got it, Kitty!" Dudley exclaimed, pumped up. "It's go time!"

Birdbrain meanwhile grabbed a laser powered machine gun from his inventory and said firmly to Zippy, "Well, if they want to play games with me, then we'll play!"

As Dudley got closer to the chopper, Birdbrain abruptly stuck his head out the right side door of it, now clearly showing his weapon in hand. Kitty instantly saw and shouted, "Dudley, look out!"

Dudley now saw it too, as he grabbed the wheel aggressively, turning it to the right to evade the oncoming lasers.

"Wretched agents!" Birdbrain shouted at them angrily as he fired. "If you want me, you're going to have to take me down by force!"

"Man, that bird ain't playing around." Dudley commented, now at a safe distance.

"We can't give up." Kitty replied firmly. "I don't care if he even has a laser powered mini gun onboard, he's going down!"

"But Kitty…"

"Dudley, just get me into position, please."

Dudley decided not to argue with her and comply, as he again drew closer to the chopper. However, when he got within fifty feet, Birdbrain fired again, this time even more aggressively. Dudley again had to take evasive action to keep from getting hit.

"I can't get any closer." Dudley told Kitty.

"Yes, you can." Kitty reiterated. "We're just going to have to get creative."

"Kitty, he's a got a weapon that'll shoot us down if we're not careful." Dudley argued again.

"Just do it!"

Dudley again did as he was told, but every time they got too close for Birdbrain's comfort, he fired another few rounds at their spy car, forcing the white dog to evade yet again, steering from side to side, even up and down to avoid getting hit. With Kitty pressuring him to keep pressing forward, Dudley gave it another go a few seconds later. However, it yielded the same results. When he tried a 3rd time, it nearly had disastrous consequences, as part of Birdbrain's laser fire ended up damaging the right side of their car, tearing up parts of its sheet metal to pieces, even almost hitting Kitty.

"I told you, Kitty. We can't get near him." Dudley said.

Now losing all patience, Kitty aggressively grabbed the wheel from Dudley and now took over the driving.

"Kitty, what are you doing?"

"Shut up and watch a pro, rookie." Kitty replied sharply to him.

With fierce determination in her eyes, the feline agent went all out to get her villain, heading towards the chopper at full speed. Birdbrain saw this and began to chuckle inside, "My, my, those agents really are a glutton for punishment. Oh well, if they want more, than I'll be glad to give it to them!"

Seconds later, Zippy said to him, "less than two miles and closing to our secret hideout, boss."

"Excellent." Birdbrain replied with a grin on his face. "That should be more than enough time to blast them out of the sky."

And with those words, Birdbrain began to fire again, shooting as many lasers as he could at their car as possible. Kitty however wouldn't back down, as she used her aerial prowess and courage to evade his attacks and move closer to the chopper. Dudley on the other hand was beginning to freak out, as laser fire began to zip around his head too close for even his liking, making him slide down in his seat as a safety precaution.

Unfortunately for Kitty, she soon realized she could get only so close before they were a sitting duck for the laser machine gun's attack. Once she was within ten feet, their spy car again received damage to its interior, as the trunk of their car now was shot up with many holes due to the lasers cutting through it. Kitty then steered the car out of harm's way, now flying above the chopper by about 100 feet.

"See, there's no way to get past that gun of his." Dudley said firmly.

"There's gotta be a way." Kitty replied.

Just then, they saw a forest with heavy foliage was on the horizon. Kitty realized there was a good chance Birdbrain was going to use it as a way to escape. Refusing to let that happen, Kitty decided to take one more shot at getting him. Dudley saw that look in her eyes, making him say, "Please don't tell you're going to try again."

"Hold onto your seat, partner." Kitty replied with a sly grin. "It's about to get very dicey."

And with those words, Kitty gunned it, now nose diving towards the chopper at full speed, making Dudley scream in terror. Birdbrain meanwhile saw his secret hideout was getting close, thus putting his nerves at ease, that is until Zippy said, pointing with her right wing "Uh, boss…"

Birdbrain turned his head and saw them heading towards his chopper yet again. Now deeply amused, he said, "They sure don't know when to give up, do they? Oh well, I guess I'll give them another lesson for their stupidity."

"Kitty, are you crazy?" Dudley shouted with deep fear as they continued their decent.

"No, just determined."

"You're going to get us killed!"

"That's where you were wrong." Kitty replied firmly.

Seconds later, Birdbrain unleashed another barrage of laser fire at their spy car. Kitty however maintained her line for the most part, only moving from side to side when necessary to avoid getting hit.

Kitty then said to Dudley as they got closer, "Get ready to take the wheel as soon as I jump out."

"You what? Have you lost your mind?" Dudley protested loudly.

"Dudley, trust me on this."

Dudley didn't like this plan of hers one bit, but decided to help out anyway.

Eventually, Kitty got into position to put her plan to attack. Birdbrain meanwhile kept the heat on her and Dudley, firing as fast and aggressive as possible to shoot them down. Dudley on the other hand could only barely watch, now to the point of paralyzing fear. Moments later, the spy car was within twenty feet and closing. It was at that moment she went into a complete nose dive, now heading underneath the chopper. This move of hers turned out to be extremely risky, as she barely pulled it off without a scratch.

Kitty then shocked Dudley, as she unlatched her seatbelt and then jumped out once their car was completely underneath the chopper, now grabbing a hold of the landing gear with her hands.

"What are you doing?" Dudley asked in horror.

"Hurry, take the wheel and keep him busy." She replied composed.

Dudley had no idea what she was planning to do, but decided to comply, as he took over the controls. However, due to being a novice pilot, Dudley almost suffered the full wrath of Birdbrain, as he again fired at the spy car while the large white dog pulled back on the wheel to get above the chopper. The laser fire again hit the spy car, now seriously damaging one of the jet engine turbines on the right side, causing it catch fire.

Seeing this put a big smile on Birdbrain's face. "Ha ha, I've got them now!"

Unfortunately though, as he began to shoot at Dudley again, something began to puzzle him. "It just occurred to me, there was only agent in that car. So what happened to the other one?"

Before either of them could answer this question, Kitty did it for them, as she used her feline prowess to climb inside, using a sneak attack. She quickly lunged at him from behind, knocking him to the ground seriously stunned with a strong aerial kick on the back of his head.

Birdbrain instantly fell the ground in a heap, as Kitty towered over him victorious. Zippy then tried to ambush her again, but the feline agent was one step ahead, grabbing her by the beak and jamming into the chopper's metal structure.

"Chew on that awhile!" Kitty said sharply to her.

Seconds later, Dudley came flying in from the side and saw Kitty had taken them down. He then gave her a thumbs up and said, "Way to go, Kitty. You were amazing!"

Kitty blushed at his sincere compliment and replied, "See, I told you I could…"

"Kitty, look out!"

Kitty turned around and saw the chopper was about to collide with a large tree up head. Thinking fast, Kitty ran towards the spy car and climbed aboard.

"Wait, what about them?" Dudley asked.

"Land us in the forest and then we'll deal with them appropriately." Kitty answered. It was then she saw the damaged the jet turbine and asked concerned, "You think the it will hold long enough for us to land?"

"I'm not sure, but there's only way to find out." Dudley replied. "Hang on."

Meanwhile, Birdbrain had finally come to, and saw his chopper was within seconds of disaster. He then ran towards the controls and tried to evade the oncoming tree, but it was too little, too late. Part of the chopper collided with the large tree, causing it to spin and then plummet to the ground and crash violently, sliding across the forest floor severely damaged.

Within seconds, the choppers came to a grinding halt, due to it colliding with an oncoming tree. Surprisingly, neither Birdbrain, nor Zippy were seriously injured in the crash, though both were knocked senseless.

While this was going on, Dudley carefully landed the spy car nearby, and there they saw the heavily damaged chopper up ahead. Kitty quickly got out of the car and ran in to see if they were still in it. To her shock, they had managed to escape before she could get in there. But unlike with Snaptrap, she saw where they were trying to escape and quickly gave chase.

"Hurry, Zippy." Birdbrain told her, heavily panting as he ran. "Our hideout's just up ahead."

Unfortunately for the two villainous birds, they were soon stopped in their tracks. Out of nowhere, Kitty came flying in with another aerial karate kick, slamming the large blue bird from behind into a nearby tree, nearly head on. Birdbrain was nearly knocked out from this attack, groaning in pain as he slumped to the floor. Zippy then tried to help her boss out, but was then apprehended by Dudley from behind as well, holding her tightly in his grasp, saying to her with his finger waving at her tauntingly, "Ah, ah, ah."

Kitty then surprised even Dudley as she grabbed Birdbrain by his ugly purple coat and then held him against the tree she had just hit him with, looking at the blue bird with fierce anger, seething inside.

"You… vile… bird…!" Kitty hissed at him. "It's bad enough you tricked the good citizens of Petropolis out of their homes with your scam, but the fact you did it by the book and then planned to take advantage of your generosity of letting stay in your homes is downright despicable."

"Kitty, what are you doing?"

Kitty ignored his pleas and shocked him even more, as she now grabbed Birdbrain by the throat, cutting off part of his wind pipe. "And then, you had to lure me into a well conceived trap, taking advantage of my determination to bust you, even trying to kill me in the process."

"Kitty, is this really necessary?" Dudley asked her. "I mean, we have him dead to rights. Why don't we just take him back to T.U.F.F and book him?"

"For all the evil you've brought to Petropolis and T.U.F.F, you deserve to die!" Kitty declared loudly at Birdbrain.

That statement horrified Dudley, as he now saw her tightening her hold around his throat. "Kitty, stop! Don't do this!"

"Let me be, Dudley!" Kitty snapped at him. "It's time justice was served!"

Kitty continued to hold his neck tightly, now even beginning to show him her razor sharp claws. Dudley then went up to her and pleaded, "Kitty, if you kill him, your reputation as a T.U.F.F agent will be seriously tarnished."

"What does that even matter?" Kitty shot back. "I'm tired of letting criminals like him get away with a slap on the wrist!"

Dudley could sense there was something else bothering her about Birdbrain's plan, so he tried again to mediate. "Kitty, I understand you're angry with him about what he did to you, but killing him would make you no better than he is."

That statement caused hesitation on her part, as she realized it was true. Dudley then continued, "Please, for your own sake, let him go. After all, weren't you the one who said you wanted challenges as a T.U.F.F agent?"

Dudley now saw Kitty beginning to loosen her grip around his neck, as his words began to make her think deeply. "If you do kill him," Dudley told her. "That will be another villain you'll never do battle with again. Is that what you really want?"

By now, Kitty began to tear up on the inside. As hard as it was for her to hear that, she knew he was right. So, she finally let him go, slightly slamming him into the tree again as she did so, causing the large blue bird to fall to the ground. She then said to Dudley, "Very well. Call for T.U.F.F and have them arrested." She quickly added with a sigh, "We'll do this by the book."

Dudley then tied up the two birds to the tree Kitty had used to hit Birdbrain with and then radioed it in to T.U.F.F to bring assistance. A minute later after hanging up, he said to her, "Ok, T.U.F.F's on the way. They'll have a unit in the forest within a few minutes.

Dudley however lost his train of thought, as he saw Kitty sitting down on the grass, leaning near one of the trees nearby, holding her knees, now looking at the ground with deep sadness.

"Kitty, what's wrong?" Dudley asked her perplexed.

"Never mind." Kitty replied with a sniffle. "You wouldn't understand. Plus, it's stupid anyway."

"Try me." Dudley told her, now sitting down next to her on the right side.

"It's just that… he humiliated me back there at Rancho Boobamunga." Kitty stated softly. "I thought he was just a weakling, but he almost made me pay dearly for underestimating him." She then looked at Dudley with moistened eyes and added, "And if that's not bad enough, I actually almost went through with the idea of killing him. Dudley, what is wrong with me? I feel like I'm losing it now."

"Hey, hey, c'mon." Dudley said, putting a hand on her right shoulder. "Don't let it get you down. You're just having an off day. It happens to the best of us."

"That's not the point." Kitty replied. "I mean, usually every villain I've encountered, I had the upper hand of their thought process. Well, except for maybe the Chameleon. But then again, his ability to transform and change his voice would fool just about anyone."

"Is that what's really bothering you right now?" Dudley inquired. "That Birdbrain made you look foolish today?"

Kitty nodded her head and replied with another sniffle, "That, and the fact T.U.F.F is running out of villains for me to fight."

"Say what?"

"Let's face it, Dudley," Kitty stated sullen. "We've basically put our agency out of work."

"That's not true." Dudley reiterated. "They'll always be more villains trying to cause trouble for Petropolis. Crime is something that'll never be gone for good."

"Yea, I know." Kitty replied. "But they're mostly petty criminals; the Petropolis police department can deal with them. I'm talking about evil masterminds like Snaptrap. They're becoming fewer and fewer with every passing day."

Dudley then said with arched eyebrows, "I'm confused here. Are you saying you want super villains in Petropolis so you can just get the thrill of fighting them?"

"No, of course not!" Kitty shot back, shocked at his assumptions. "Nothing makes me happier than seeing the city as peace and prosperous. But at the same time, I want to feel alive. I want to be helping those in trouble, crushing evil underneath my foot. Seeing order being restored is one of the joys of being a secret agent."

"I see…." Dudley said.

"That's one of the big reasons why I'm feeling sad now." Kitty explained. "Petropolis is a lot safer now thanks to our efforts. But with most of the super villains put away, my job as a secret agent here may no longer be necessary here."

Dudley now understood what she was trying to say, so he said, trying to cheer up. "Hey, don't worry about it, Kitty. No matter what, I'm sure Petropolis will always have a job for you somewhere to keep our streets clean of crime."

As Kitty pondered this statement of his in her mind, the T.U.F.F agency finally arrived, with many of their agents and cars surrounding the area. The Chief then came out and said to them elated, "Impressive work, agents. Dudley just explained to me how you unraveled Birdbrain's master plan of conning the citizens out of all their property." He turned to Kitty and told her, "You will be getting a raise for your valiant efforts. It took a lot of guts to bring down this troublemaking bird."

"Thanks, Chief." Kitty replied softly.

The Chief then ordered his other agents to take Birdbrain and Zippy away to Petropolis state prison. As they were carrying out his orders, The Chief said to Kitty, "I also want you to know I'll be having a special awards ceremony, giving you and Agent Puppy a medal of honor in front of the entire city, so they can commend you both for your heroism."

"Sweet!" Dudley exclaimed, pumping his fists in the air, ecstatic.

"Yea… sweet…"

Kitty then turned and began to walk away, leaving the small flea completely baffled. "I don't get it. I thought she'd be happy about all of this." He turned to Dudley and asked, "Did I miss something?'

"It's kind of complicated, Chief." Dudley replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, I still want to know why she's so down in the dumps." The small flea reiterated. "Her behavior is really starting to bother me now."

Kitty meanwhile continued to walk by herself in the forest, trying to gather her thoughts. Deep down, she was happy and content that Birdbrain was now finished, and the citizens were given justice. But at the same time, she felt she had just conquered her last super villain of Petropolis, leaving her with a feeling of emptiness inside.

_Is this it?_ Kitty thought to herself. _Are my skills as a secret agent no longer needed in Petropolis?_


	4. Kitty's tough decision

The following day, The Chief held an awards ceremony for Kitty and Dudley's bravery after defeating Birdbrain in front of the whole city.

"For stopping what would have been a horrible scam of Petropolis, I hereby award you the medal of honor."

The Chief then placed it around Kitty's neck, as she wore it with a smile on her face, though it was more for the camera than anything. The small flea soon did the same for Dudley. Dudley's reaction on the other hand to this was one of pure delight, as he wore it like a badge of honor.

"Let's give a rousing cheer for our heroic agents." The Chief stated to the crowd.

The crowd did just that, shouting, "Hip, hip, hooray!" three times, then applauding them even louder for over ten seconds.

"Listen to them, Kitty." Dudley commented elated. "They love us. Ain't it awesome?"

Kitty gave a faint smile and replied, "Yea, it is very nice."

Soon after this, the crowd dispersed, as the normal activity around Petropolis quickly resumed. But within the T.U.F.F agency, it was not so. The Chief went to Kitty after the ceremony was over and said with authority, "Agent Katswell, my office, now."

Kitty had a feeling what he was going to say to her, but decided to see for herself, quickly walking in without trying to show too much anxiety. After she came in, The Chief said to her, "Have a seat."

"I'd rather stand if you don't mind." Kitty replied respectfully.

"Actually, I do mind." The Chief retorted sharply. "Sit."

So, she did. The Chief then said after he was seated behind his desk, "All right, I want to know what is going on with you, and I want you to tell me right now."

"What do you mean?" Kitty asked innocently.

"You know what I mean!" The Chief shot back, pointing a finger at her. "Ever since Snaptrap was declared dead, you've been acting all moody and sad." He quickly gave her a firm look and added, "So tell me, what has gotten into you? Your attitude is hurting the morale of T.U.F.F."

Kitty knew this was true, so she replied softly while looking away, "Well, it's kind of hard to explain without sounding selfish."

"Just tell me already so I can get to the bottom of it." The Chief demanded. "I want this problem taken care of immediately."

"Well, ok then." Kitty said.

Kitty then explained to the Chief what she had told Dudley, telling him she felt she had basically run the T.U.F.F agency out of work after dealing a severe blow to D.O.O.M and Birdbrain's operation.

"What, that's utter nonsense!" The Chief remarked with arched eyebrows. "Why I'll have you know, that the T.U.F.F agency is an organization that will never cease to exist. After all, we're the main protectors of Petropolis against evil masterminds."

"But don't you see, Chief?" Kitty argued. "Snaptrap and Birdbrain are no longer a threat to the city. It was people like them that gave birth to T.U.F.F in the first place. With them now out of the picture, what's the point of having a secret agency in this city?"

"Just because they're done for the time being, doesn't mean they won't ever strike again." The Chief countered. "Who's to say Snaptrap isn't really dead and that Birdbrain won't bust out of jail and try another convoluted scheme?"

Kitty had to admit, that was a question she couldn't just dismiss. The Chief then continued, "As long as they're evildoers within Petropolis, T.U.F.F will always have work. You can count on it."

"Well, I guess that is true." Kitty stated softly. Deep down though, she wasn't sure of this anymore.

"Now then, I don't want to see anymore of your depressing moods around here." The chief told her firmly. "You are a T.U.F.F agent, and I expect you to uphold that title with great pride. You understand me?"

Kitty reluctantly nodded her head, with the Chief replying, "Good. I'm glad we had this little talk. Now go out there and make me proud."

"Yes, sir." Kitty answered softly.

The feline agent then got up out of her seat and then walked out of his office, trying to keep a straight face, but it wasn't easy for her. As she walked around the building, Dudley soon came running up to her and said with excitement in his voice, "Hey, Kitty! Man, wasn't that one of the coolest ceremonies ever?"

"Yea, it was quite a blast." Kitty replied, giving him a faint smile.

"Just you wait, Kitty." Dudley told her confidently. "We'll soon be knocking around some bad guys for a loop again before you know it."

_I hope you're right about that, Dudley. I really do._

Unfortunately for Kitty, Dudley's prophetic words couldn't have been more wrong. Within days, it became obvious not only to the Chief, but to Dudley as well that work within T.U.F.F was at a snail's crawl. With no more D.O.O.M agents apparently running around the streets, Petropolis was slowly becoming a city that didn't need a secret agent team to save it any longer.

Kitty's fears of T.U.F.F no longer being necessary were coming true right before her very eyes. However, the Chief and Dudley brushed off the sluggish pace as just a fluke. But it wasn't. Soon, three weeks passed, with hardly any calls from Petropolis asking for their help.

"I should have known this would happen." Kitty told Dudley sullen, while around the kitchen of T.U.F.F,

"Ah, don't worry about it." the large white dog told her, while getting a latte from the vending machine. "Things are bound to pick up sooner or later."

"I don't know about that, Dudley. I think my fears have been…"

Just then, the Chief came running in with news. "I just got a call from the Petropolis mental institution. The Chameleon has escaped from the place with the police hot on his trail. They'll need our help right away."

"All right!" Dudley exclaimed, with his fists pumped in the air. "Let's go get that rapscallion!"

"This maybe just the break our agency needs to get us back on the good side of Petropolis." The Chief stated optimistic. "Now go out there and take him down!"

Both Kitty and Dudley nodded their head, as they ran to the nearest T.U.F.F spy car and drove off, soon accelerating at top speed.

"See, and you thought T.U.F.F wouldn't be needed again." Dudley ribbed Kitty. "I told you we'd get back in action."

Kitty had to admit, going on this mission against one of her arch rivals was a refreshing pace after sitting around for awhile.

Seconds later, Dudley got on the radio. "So where was the Chameleon last seen?" he asked the Chief.

"According to the police," The Chief answered. "He was last seen heading towards forest near the highway."

"Right." Kitty said firmly. "Dudley and I will go and thoroughly search the area."

"Make sure you keep me posted of any updates regarding the Chameleon." The Chief instructed her.

"10-4, sir." And with those words, Dudley activated the jet engines, as the T.U.F.F spy car soon flew high into the air."

Within a minute being airborne, Kitty saw the forest area up ahead from a distance. "There it is, Dudley." She said to him, pointing towards it. "Hit the turbo."

"You got it." Dudley replied.

Dudley hit the turbo button, increasing the car's speed by over fifty miles per hour. Once they were over the forest area, the large white dog then backed off the throttle so they could scan the place with their eyes more thoroughly.

Kitty quickly got out her infrared spy goggles and began to inspect the trees and ground close up. Halfway above the forest, her goggles picked something up.

"Wait a second… that tree bark on that large cedar tree on the left looks fake." Kitty commented with a frown. After getting a closer look of it, she knew who it was.

"There he is, Dudley!" Kitty told him. Get us onto the ground, pronto!"

"You got it, Kitty!"

Dudley hit the accelerator and pressed down on the controls, as their spy car soon blasted through the shrubbery, now in hot pursuit.

The Chameleon quickly realized he had been spotted after witnessing this and made a run for it, heading in the opposite direction.

"Land us here, Dudley." Kitty instructed.

Dudley did as he was told, bringing the car to a halt. Kitty then got out and ran after him, with the large white dog following suit.

_Finally, now I'll be able to put the green menace in his place once and for all. _Kitty thought to herself.

Ten seconds later however, both T.U.F.F agents received a huge surprise, as they saw the Petropolis police department had already apprehended the Chameleon, now with cuffs around his hands and legs.

Kitty looked on with disappointment, as she realized her confrontation with her arch nemesis was over in less than ten minutes. To make matters worse, the police department appeared to be more annoyed than thrilled to see the T.U.F.F agents in the area.

"Thanks for offering to help, but I think we got it handled." One cop said to them. "You can go now."

"But you wouldn't have caught him without us." Dudley argued.

The cop just sneered at them and replied, "Yea, right. If that's so true, why is he wearing our handcuffs and not yours?"

"Because he was running away from us, which in turn caused him to run into you." Kitty explained.

"Yea, sure he did." By now the Petropolis police force were giving both Dudley and Kitty the evil eye, as the same cop said to them sharply, "Why don't you do this city a favor and go find a real criminal to take care of for a change?"

Dudley was about to argue again, but Kitty held her hand, saying, "Forget it, Agent Puppy." She soon walked away adding with sadness in her voice, "Let's just go."

Dudley was baffled by Kitty's behavior, making him ask after catching up to her, "What's gotten into you? Didn't you enjoy taking on the Chameleon?"

"Yea, that is until the Petropolis police department apprehended them and then wouldn't even give us credit for our help."

Dudley though blew off it off, replying, "Ah, relax. I'm sure the Chief will straighten it out for us."

But again, Dudley's words were wrong, as not only the Petropolis police not only took all the credit for capturing the Chameleon, but also began to imply that the T.U.F.F agency was no longer a helpful presence to them in reducing crime.

Dudley responded by ripping the newspaper in two, shouting after throwing it on the floor, "Those ingrates! How dare they act like T.U.F.F is no longer important! We've busted our butts for them again and again, and this is the thanks we get?"

"Well, since we h-h-haven't stopped any criminals as of recent." Keswick explained. "Maybe they think we're not n-n-needed anymore."

Even the Chief was floored by this. "I can't believe they would actually even think that! Why, if it wasn't for us, Snaptrap and Birdbrain would still be running amok."

Kitty on the other hand took this as a sign that her job as a T.U.F.F agent might soon become extinct. With no super villains no longer threatening the city, it was becoming painfully obvious to her that T.U.F.F may indeed cease as an organization.

Another week soon passed. By now, T.U.F.F's work schedule was almost non existent. With no big crimes happening in Petropolis, the police handled over 95% of turmoil happening within the city.

Dudley by this time was completely bored out of his mind, as he tried to make a skyscraper out of stack of cards to help pass the time. Keswick even tried to practice his karaoke singing during the slow work week. As for the Chief, the lack of work going on began to wear on him emotionally, especially when he saw a news update on TV being reported by Dorothy Camel that the city was now debating whether or not to cut the funding of the T.U.F.F agency since they were hardly doing anything worthwhile.

Kitty meanwhile began to browse the internet, trying to see if there were any crimes for the T.U.F.F agency to help out with. Unfortunately though, there was nothing she saw that the Petropolis Police Department couldn't handle themselves.

_I never thought it would come to this. My career here at T.U.F.F was supposed to be a job for life._

Kitty hated the idea of not being a secret agent anymore, but it was becoming more apparent that her job here was in serious jeopardy.

_Am I going to have to find a new line of work now? This can't be happening to me._

Kitty by this time was being forced to accept the fact she might indeed have to find a new job, one she might not even like.

Moments later, Kitty prepared to shut off her computer and do some inventory for the Chief, that is until a new ad from one of her web pages caught her eye.

_Huh? What's this?_

The ad read:

Looking for an opportunity to make an impact for those around you? Want a job that will challenge your talents as an individual? Then come apply at G.U.N HQ, where your dream of being a hero can come true.

Kitty looked at the ad deeply skeptical.

_No, it can't be that easy. It's gotta be too good to be true._

Being very curious though, Kitty clicked the ad, where the page soon changed, displaying a video. Within moments, it played, showing the G.U.N commander behind his desk, ready to speak. There was also some inspirational music being played in the background as well.

Kitty listened intently as he spoke.

"Hello, thank you for your interest in our organization, G.U.N. I can assure you, should you choose to work here, it will be a job experience that you will never forget."

While Kitty was puzzled by that last sentence of his, the G.U.N commander continued.

"Here at G.U.N, you will be working for a secret agency, where you will have to put everything on the line, both mentally and physically. It is not a job for the faint of heart or cowardly."

Kitty soon became deeply intrigued by the prospect of this idea.

"You will be working with an elite core of agents, fighting a battle against an evil dictator who threatens our very way of peace."

_There's gotta be a catch to all of this, _Kitty thought to herself. _Surely they don't just hand out these kind of jobs._

"But, let me myself very clear." The G.U.N commander explained bluntly. "To qualify for this kind of work, you must be one of discipline, one with razor sharp reflexes, a person who's well educated and highly skilled. And, most importantly, you must have a strong will to see justice be served."

Kitty by this point was starting to get fascinated by this opportunity she saw before her.

"Only then, can you truly be, an elite agent. If you think you have what it takes, then apply today, where tomorrow, you can make a difference for those in need."

The video then shut off, as Kitty now pondered over in her mind what she had just saw.

_Fighting crime with an elite core of agents… How cool would that be?_

Just then, Dudley out of nowhere, startling her with one his usual greetings. "Hey, Kitty, how's it going?"

Kitty nearly jumped out of her seat, as she turned around with a frown and replied, "Dudley, how many times have I told you not to do that?"

"Oh, sorry, Kitty." Dudley said, now looking at her sheepishly. "So, uh… what's up?"

"Not much really." Kitty answered with a sigh. "I take it you're bored out of your skull now due to the lack of work for us."

"Yea, you could say that." Dudley said. He then saw Kitty's computer screen and asked with curiosity, "Hey, what's that?"

Deeply embarrassed, Kitty quickly clicked the X of the webpage with mouse, replying, "Uh, nothing. Just important business stuff."

Dudley was bit taken back by this, but didn't press the matter. "Anyway, the Chief says we can have our lunch break now. Want to get a bite to eat at the local diner?"

"Oh, uh, sure. Just give me a few minutes to finish up and I'll meet you over there." Kitty replied.

"Ok then, I'll go get us a booth." Dudley said with a smile. "See you there. Hi Gee-Gee!"

Dudley quickly ran off, leaving Kitty alone now to continue to ponder this video she had just witnessed.

_Can this agency really be the answer I've been looking for?_

Kitty however immediately regretted thinking that, as her job at T.U.F.F had been a very satisfying one, especially by the fact she was working with some of nicest people she had ever met, from the Chief, Keswick, even Dudley for that matter. But at the same time, she knew she had to protect herself in case she would soon be out of work.

_I suppose it can't hurt to check the place out. Who knows? Maybe I'll find out it's not what it's all cracked up to be._

So, she submitted her resume to G.U.N's website, even asking for an interview with them if possible. After she had completed it, Kitty soon felt guilty inside.

_Why do I feel like I'm betraying all of those here at T.U.F.F? I don't want to tinker with the idea of leaving them, but I don't know what choice I have now. If they go under, where do I go from here?_

Moments later, Kitty shut off her computer and headed off to meet Dudley at the diner. Since the diner was close by, it only took her five minutes to get down there. Within seconds of heading inside, she saw Dudley near one of the booths upfront, waving at her.

"Have a seat, Kitty." Dudley told her warmly. "I got us a booth near the window."

Kitty quickly walked over and sat down on the opposite side of the booth where Dudley was sitting. However, she soon felt troubled inside as they began to chat together. Dudley soon saw this and asked, "Uh, Kitty, you ok?"

Kitty looked up at him a bit startled, replying, "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

Dudley though knew better, as he pressed the issue. "C'mon, something's been eating at you lately. You can tell me. I am your partner after all."

"Well, I… I guess you could I'm concerned about our future here at T.U.F.F" Kitty replied, telling a half truth.

"Kitty, you're worrying over nothing." Dudley told her confidently.

Just then, the waitress arrived at took their drink orders, with both of them ordering lemon lime sodas. Once she left to go bring them to their table, Dudley said continuing, "T.U.F.F will always be apart of Petropolis. The citizens owe us that much after all the times we bailed them out."

"But, Dudley," Kitty argued. "Our work schedule has been next to nil as of recent. The city's even thinking of cutting our funding. You can't deny that T.U.F.F as an organization is in trouble."

Dudley though blew her off, saying, "We'll get through it. I mean, this is just a dry spell we're enduring now. Work will pick up soon. Wait and see."

The waitress then brought them their soda, saying, "I'll be back to take your order in a bit."

After she walked away, Dudley added, "Trust me, Kitty, you and me are going to be T.U.F.F agents for the rest of our careers. Just hang in there and don't give up hope."

Kitty gave Dudley a slight nod at his words of encouragement, but deep down inside, she wasn't confident that scenario would be happening if things continued the way they were going.

Several days later, Kitty checked her email and was surprised to learn that G.U.N had answered back.

The email read:

Kitty Katswell,

We've read your resume thoroughly and find you a very intriguing prospect. Therefore, we request an interview at our agency tomorrow in Central City at 11am to learn more about you and way of thinking.

After reading it, Kitty was beside herself, as she couldn't believe how lucky she was to get an interview from them so soon.

_Do I dare go there and see if I meet their criteria?_

Again, Kitty struggled intensely with her emotions about this decision of hers. She knew accepting a job with them would be a big change. And at the same time, she wondered how her team would take the news if she did indeed quit T.U.F.F. Some time later after giving it a lot of thought, Kitty finally decided to bite the bullet and go through with the interview.

_I'm not guaranteed the job yet, so an interview shouldn't be any big deal for me to handle. I'm just testing the waters. Yea, that's it._

And so, Kitty prepared herself to be ready to meet the G.U.N agency. However, she quickly realized she would have to miss a day of work in order to do so. Thinking quickly, Kitty decided to use one of her sick days, as she had accumulated hundreds of them due to having a near perfect attendance record.

The next day, Kitty called in sick, claiming she had a bad cold. Not surprisingly, T.U.F.F bought her excuse. Dudley on the hand soon called her home phone number some time later, telling Kitty he's sorry to learn she is ill. To her shock, he even offered to bring her some of her Mom's famous chicken soup to her house to help her feel better.

Kitty decided to play it cool to keep him away from coming over. "I'll be ok, Dudley." She told him, faking a hoarse voice and cough. "I just need some rest is all."

"You sure?" Dudley asked her. "It won't be any trouble."

"I'm sure, Dudley." Kitty replied. "Thanks for the sweet offer though."

"Well, ok then.." Dudley soon said after a brief pause. "You think you'll be well enough to be back tomorrow?"

"Hopefully, but I'll have to play it by ear." Kitty answered. "Talk to you later."

"Yea, later, Kitty." Dudley said with optimism. "Take care of yourself.

"You too, Dudley. Bye."

Kitty quickly hung up the phone, immediately feeling guilty for lying to her partner, but knew it had to be done.

_Hopefully that's the last time I'll have to be dishonest with any of my T.U.F.F comrades._

Soon after this, Kitty prepared to leave for Central City and prepare for her interview with G.U.N. She didn't know how it would go, but she was curious to learn more about this organization.

Since she didn't know how to get down there, Kitty had called for special transportation, having them personally escort her to their building.

At precisely 9am, her transportation had arrived outside her home. With a few taps of the horn, Kitty quickly responded, walking towards to vehicle and getting inside. Once she was in her seat and had her seatbelt fastened, the driver said, "Welcome, aboard, Miss Katswell. You'll be at your destination within the next hour and a half."

And with those words, the vehicle took off, soon getting airborne and accelerating to top speed.

During the flight, Kitty tried to relax and keep her nerves in check, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. She couldn't help but ponder what happen during the interview.

_What if I say something stupid and they laugh me out of the building? What if they think I'm not good enough to be apart of their group. Or worse, what if they think I'm perfect for the job and offer me a position this very day?_

Kitty then decided to quit worrying about what could happen and just wait it out, as she soon laid her head against the seat behind her and take a quick snooze.

Before she knew it, Kitty had arrived at her destination, as it was now in front of G.U.N's main building. The driver than nudged her awake and said, "Pardon me, Miss, but we're here."

Kitty quickly snapped to attention, saying after a yawn, "Huh? Oh, uh, thanks."

She then stepped out of the car and walked towards the building, quickly opening its doors and entering inside. Kitty looked around at the interior of the building with amazement, as it was so much luxurious and high tech than what she had with T.U.F.F.

While she walked around, Kitty saw the information stand and went up to it.

"Can I help you?" the receptionist asked.

"Yea, I'm here to see the Commander for my interview appointment." Kitty replied softly.

The receptionist looked at her surprisingly and said, "You? Are you sure you have one with him?"

Kitty looked at her puzzled and answered, "Of course I do. Why does that sound so hard to believe?"

"Well, it's just that…"

"What?" Kitty demanded

"You're, a… err.. How do I put it…?"

Kitty was beginning to feel very awkward inside. "Is there a problem with my appearance?"

"No, it's not that." The secretary replied. "But it's just that… The Commander mostly hires our kind."

"You mean humans, don't you?" Kitty stated bluntly, now with arched eyebrows.

"Err, yea.. I don't mean any offense." the secretary told her softly.

"Uh huh… Am I going to get to see the Commander or not?" Kitty asked, now with a sharp tone in her voice.

"Hang on a second…"

The receptionist then got on the phone and called the commander's phone. Within a few rings, he picked up, with her saying, "Hello, Commander, I'm sorry to bother you, but I have a pressing matter at hand."

As Kitty listened in, the receptionist added, "Well, I have a, er… uh, cat girl telling me she has an interview appointment with you."

Kitty was slightly offended by that name, but decided to let it go. "Her name? Hang on a second, sir." The receptionist then put her right hand over the speaker part of the phone and asked the tan feline softly, "Uh, what was your name again?"

"It's Kitty." She answered sharply, crossing her arms together. "Kitty Katswell."

"Her name is Kitty Katswell, sir." The receptionist told him. "Uh huh… Uh huh… Ok, I'll do that, sir. Sorry to trouble you again."

The receptionist then hung up the phone and told Kitty, "Ok, I see you were telling me the truth. But since your appointment isn't for another twenty minutes, why not have a seat and I'll call for you when the time comes."

Kitty nodded her slightly and did just that, soon sitting down at a bench near the receptionist's booth on her left. As she waited, Kitty couldn't help but feel very awkward about the whole situation.

_I must admit, its weird being a town that mostly has humans in it, especially since there were hardly any in Petropolis, if any at all. I get the feeling there aren't many of my kind by the way she was talking._

Kitty then decided to pass the time by reading some of the magazines near her seat. One of them particularly caught her eye, as the headline read, "Dr. Eggman strikes serious blow to G.U.N, as over a dozen agents were killed in the line of fire during a shootout near his base."

The front cover of the magazine showed a large picture of Dr. Eggman, portraying him with glee on it while near the bottom of it showed several injured G.U.N agents trying to flee for help.

Kitty to say the least was deeply disturbed by this picture on the cover.

_Wow, this Eggman character sounds like a really dastardly villain, even tougher than Snaptrap._

Before she could ponder this further, the receptionist called Kitty over and said, "Ok, the Commander says he'll see you now. Just head towards the elevator and take it to the top floor.

Kitty nodded her head and did just that, quickly walking towards it, stepping inside once it opened. She then pushed the button with the highest number on it, as it quickly began to head upwards after the doors closed, even faster than she expected it.

Within a minute, the elevator finally reached the top floor. Kitty then stepped out of it after the doors opened and walked down the long hallway. As she walked, she saw where the Commander's main quarters was, soon sitting down on a bench close by.

Seconds later, the Commander opened his doors and said greeting her warmly, "Welcome, Miss Katswell. We've been..,"

The Commander soon lost his train of thought, as he finally saw what she was, making him say awkwardly, "Uh… expecting you. Come inside and we'll begin the interview."

Kitty did as she told; quickly walking into his quarters and sitting down in the chair near his desk. After the Commander sat down in his seat, he said, "So, let's get started, shall we?"

The Commander was about to introduce himself when Kitty said, "I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but can you tell me why everyone is acting so strange around me? It's like they've never seen someone like me before."

"Uh, it's not that exactly." The Commander explained hesitantly. "It's just that, there aren't many of your kind here."

"My kind?"

"Er yea," he replied. "As far as I know, there's less than a dozen of you… uh, humanoid animals, or Mobians to be more precise."

"Mobian?" Kitty was perplexed by that name. "Is that they think I am?"

"More or less." The commander answered firmly. "Anyway, let's begin, shall we? I'm Commander Abraham Tower, head leader of the G.U.N agency."

Kitty then said before he could continue, "Just one more question, what does G.U.N stand for?"

"Guardian Units of Nations." The Commander told her.

Kitty was very intrigued by that name of this organization as the Commander continued. "Here at G.U.N, our main job is to protect the citizens of Central City from that vile mad scientist, Dr. Eggman."

"I saw an article about him." Kitty said. "What can you tell me about this villain?"

"That's not for you to know right now." The Commander told her firmly. "If you get a job with us, we'll then gladly tell you everything we know about him. But for now, I want to know more about you and why you want a job with us."

"Well, to be honest, sir…" Kitty replied hesitantly. "I've been feeling unfulfilled at my current job recently."

"You mean with T.U.F.F?" The commander inquired.

"Uh, yea.." Kitty said. "I mean, I love my job there, but lately, our agency has little to no work now. It's getting very frustrating to be perfectly honest."

The commander then put a hand on his chin and began to think, saying eventually, "I see… So tell me, what do you hope to accomplish with us if you do get hired here?"

Kitty replied to him quickly, "Well, I don't know if I'm ready to change jobs just yet. I'm just kind of testing the waters for now. No Offense."

"None taken." The Commander said softly. "But, say hypothetically you did work here now, what would be your goals?"

Kitty thought it over at first and then replied after a brief pause, "If I did work here, my main goal would be to help those in need, saving the city from harm and taking down this Dr. Eggman character."

The Commander arched his eyebrows and responded, "Really? That's it? No wanting to become a top agent, or even wanting to get fame and a nice paycheck?"

"Well, of course I would like those things too." Kitty explained. "But I get most of my satisfaction seeing justice being served and criminals taken down."

The Commander now began to ponder what she had just said, soon replying after a three second pause, "I must admit, that is the most humble answer I've ever heard from anyone I've interviewed. I'm impressed to say the least."

While Kitty was happy to hear that, she was beginning to feel a bit worried that this would only lead to a job opportunity here.

The Commander than said after another pause, "Anyway, let's take a closer look at your resume."

He quickly grabbed the file from his desk where her resume had been stored and studied it thoroughly.

"According to this, you've mastered all forms of martial arts." He quickly looked up at her and asked, "Is this really true?"

Kitty nodded her head, with the Commander asking a few moments later, "Well then, would you mind giving me a little demonstration?"

"Uh, where though?" Kitty inquired puzzled.

"Hang on a sec." The Commander replied. He then went to his closet and brought out a punching bag, quickly tying to a hook from the ceiling about five feet from his desk."

"All right," The Commander said, "demonstrate for me what you can do on this punching bag."

"You sure I won't break anything important in here?" Kitty asked nervously.

"Don't worry about that. Just show me what you got."

Kitty did as she was told, slowly stepping up to the punching bag and unleashed her wrath on the thing within seconds, beating the stuffing out of it to say the least. Kitty used several martial chops, kicks, even going for a round house kick, hitting the bag on almost every part of it. To the feline's surprise, the bag didn't hit anything in his office while she beat on it.

Fifteen seconds later, she stopped, as the Commander looked on, completely impressed. He then went to put away the punching bag back in his closet and commented, "Well done, Miss Katswell. That was indeed a sight to behold."

"Really? You thought I was that good?" Kitty inquired with modesty.

The Commander nodded his head and replied, "I must say, those skills you have would be quite an asset to our agency."

Kitty began to look even more worried. _Oh, no. I'm impressing him too much. If that keeps up, I'll get a job offer for sure._

The Commander soon sat down after closing his closet and read her file again, "It also says here you can speak in over 120 dialects fluently. Is that also true?"

Kitty looked at him and answered with shrugged shoulders, "Well, I mean, it can't hurt to have this kind of skill, you know?"

"I suppose not." The Command commented softly. He then continued to read her file, eventually saying with arched eyebrows, "Oh c'mon, this one certainly can't be true."

"What do you mean?" Kitty asked confused.

"It says here your claws are registered as lethal weapons." He looked at her with a frown and said, "That has got to be the silliest thing I have ever heard. I know claws can hurt, but lethal? Ridiculous!"

"It's true, sir." Kitty told him modestly. "Give me a chance to prove it to you."

The Commander studied her facial expressions thoroughly, then said after thinking it over, "Very well." He brought out an apple from his lunch bag and said after placing it on his desk, "I was going to eat this for a snack soon, but if you can prove me wrong, it'll be worth the experiment. Ok, Miss Katswell, I want you to cut this apple to ribbons with these so called lethal claws of yours."

"As you wish, sir."

Kitty stood and said to him, "Uh, you might want to step back."

The Commander let out a small groan, but reluctantly complied, stepping out of his chair and walked back towards his window. Kitty then focused her aim on the apple with her right hand, now with her claws out, trying to time it perfectly.

With one quick swoop, Kitty slashed the apple with near perfect accuracy, letting out a karate yell as she did so.

The Commander watched intently, as his eyes turned to shock. His apple was cut into five thin pieces. Even his desk has some slight claws marks on it from her attack. He now looked at Kitty with awe on his face.

"Unbelievable." He said, nearly speechless. "You are as good as your resume advertised."

Kitty looked at him perplexed, as he continued, "I don't usually do this, but your skills have wowed me beyond measure. How would you like a job with us as a G.U.N agent?

"What, you mean you're actually offering me the job now?" Kitty asked with surprise on her face.

"Yes, as matter of fact, I am." The Commander replied firmly. "So, what do you say, Miss Katswell? Are you ready to join our elite ranks?"

"Well, I… I don't know what to say…"

Kitty then turned her back to him, confusing Commander Tower. He soon asked after she didn't say anything for a few seconds, "Is something wrong?"

"Well, kind of." Kitty answered, now with sadness in her voice.

"I don't understand. Didn't you want a job from us?" The Commander inquired.

"It's not that, sir. It's just…"

"Would you at least look me in the eye if you're going to give me a reason why you're turning me down?" The Commander told her firmly.

Kitty turned around, and there he saw tears in his eyes, confusing him even more. "You're crying tears of sadness." He commented perplexed. "Why? I don't understand you."

"Well, sir, to be perfectly honestly." Kitty told him softly. "I didn't think I would be getting a job offer this quickly. I was actually hoping you would give me a call a few days later and then tell me whether or not I got the job."

"But why would want that when you can have the job now?" The Commander inquired of her.

"Well, you see… I'm still kind of loyal to T.U.F.F." Kitty explained.

"Oh, I see…"

"No offense, sir, your organization is absolutely amazing and I would love to have a job opportunity here. But at the same time, I have loyal friends at T.U.F.F that I still care about."

The Commander nodded his head, sympathizing with her as he said, "I understand. That kind of loyalty is another trait we here at G.U.N admire."

"I just don't know if I can quit T.U.F.F so easily without causing hurt feelings from my friends." Kitty said sorrowfully.

The Commander now was silent for a few seconds, and then said softly to her, "Well, I wouldn't dare tell you to take this job at the cost of hurting your friends." He soon added now looking intently at her, "But at the same time, I need an answer from you. This is a decision you're going to have to make here and now. So tell me, are you in or not?"

Kitty replied to him quickly, "Can I have a couple of minutes to think it over, sir? This is really going to be a hard decision for me to make."

The Commander sighed heavily, but replied to her, "Very well. I'll give you ten minutes to think it over. After that, I expect an answer from you."

"I understand, sir."

Kitty then stepped out of his office and sat on the bench again, now burying her face in her arms, trying hard to think of how to decide this.

_What do I do now? I don't want to turn this down, yet at the same time, I don't want to upset those who have been so good to me the past few years._

Kitty began to think of her T.U.F.F comrades again, picturing their faces in her mind.

_The Chief will be very disappointed in me if I choose to work for G.U.N. Keswick might get over it after awhile. But Dudley, he's going to be heartbroken if I say yes to this job._

While Dudley did indeed annoy her to no end, she considered him a true friend nonetheless; one she realized wasn't so bad once she got to know him better.

_I don't want to hurt that sweet guy. He's been so good to me._

Kitty basically found herself in a catch-22. With T.U.F.F on the verge of being shutdown any day now, her job there could be gone eventually, thus forcing her to find a new line of work. Yet at the same time, saying yes to G.U.N would cause a serious strain on her friendship with her T.U.F.F comrades.

_What do I do? What do I do? Think, Kitty, think!_

Just then, Kitty soon began to think of the Petropolis citizens, as well as the police department there. Their recent actions had angered her, as they no longer appreciated what she and Dudley had done for them.

_They don't deserve our protection anymore. The fact the citizens have forgotten our hard word so quickly is unacceptable! In fact, I hope another super villain invades Petropolis so they'll be begging for our help again!_

While Kitty felt some guilt for those thoughts, she nonetheless didn't regret thinking it. Soon, minutes began to pass, as she knew a decision would have to come from her and quickly.

_You've got a decision to make, Kitty… Your friends at T.U.F.F, where your job is on the verge of collapse, or your new job at G.U.N, where they'll more than likely feel betrayed._

Kitty didn't want to betray her friends, but at the same time, she didn't want to stay if it meant eventually being out of work.

With less than a minute to go, Kitty had finally made up her mind. It would be one of the hardest decisions of her life, but she felt deep down, this was the best way to go. She then walked backed in the Commander's office, sitting down in her chair from before.

"I've come to a decision, sir."

"Ok, what is it?"

Kitty at first couldn't say it, as she felt the words were like poison on her tongue, but then blurted it out after forcing herself, "I… accept your offer."

The Commander looked at her surprised and inquired, "Really? You're accepting the offer?"

"Yes, sir, I am."

"But what about your friends?" The Commanders asked.

"Well, they might be hurt by this move, but I feel it's for the best." Kitty replied, feeling deep guilt as she spoke.

Commander Tower then extended his hand to her and said as she shook it weakly, "Excellent. Glad to have you aboard, Agent Katswell."

"S-Same here, sir." Kitty replied.

After the Commander let go of his hand, he said to her, "So, report here tomorrow, so I can…."

Kitty interrupted him and said, "Wait, you mean, I'm starting Friday?"

"Yes," The Commander answered with arched eyebrows. "Is there a problem?"

Kitty looked at him hesitantly and said, "Well, it's just that… I'd like to at least say goodbye to my team at T.U.F.F. I mean, I need to be upfront with them about this."

"Can't you do that on your way back?" The Commander inquired.

"No, I can't unfortunately, sir." Kitty replied awkwardly. "It's… kind of complicated. Could I start Monday instead?"

The Commander looked at her puzzled, but soon said with a sigh as he sat down again, "Very well, I'll grant you this request."

"Thank you, sir." Kitty replied with smile.

"But when Monday arrives, you will officially be one of us." The Commander told her firmly.

"I understand."

"Which means, Agent Katswell, you will now answer to me. You must give G.U.N and its missions your full undivided attention. I wasn't kidding when I said in that promotional video that a G.U.N agent must give it their all."

Kitty nodded her head and answered, "I will give you my very best, Commander."

"Excellent." He said with a smile on his face. "I have a feeling you are going to fit in here just fine."

The Commander then stood up again and said, "Ok, then, I shall you see you Monday."

Kitty soon stood up as well and replied, "I'll be here Monday and ready to go."

And with those words, Kitty walked out of the room, but with her head down, instead of up high, as she still felt shame for her decision.

_I can't believe I'm doing this. I never wanted to leave T.U.F.F, but I don't know what I choice I have now._

Kitty then walked out of the building and headed for her ride, as the same transportation she had used to get there was now waiting for her out front.

"Ready to go, Ma'am?"

Kitty nodded her to the driver softly, as he took after she was inside and buckled in.

While he drove, he couldn't help but notice a look of sadness on her face, so he said trying to be sympathetic, "I take it your interview didn't go very well."

"You could say that." Kitty muttered sullen.

"Well, if they don't think you're good enough for them," the driver said, "then that's their problem. You're too good for them in my opinion."

"I'm afraid it's more complicated than that." Kitty stated, sighing heavily. "You see, I got the job."

The driver looked at her perplexed, asking, "Then why are you upset?"

"Because I didn't want it just yet." The tan feline explained to him. "I was hoping things would get better at T.U.F.F, and then if they didn't, I had a backup plan ready to go."

After hearing that, the driver understood her dilemma now. "Well, do what you think is best. I'm no expert in matters like these, so my advice is to just follow your heart."

_That's what I'm afraid of._

As before, it only took an hour and a half for her to return to Petropolis. The driver landed near her home again and said, "Here we are, Miss Katswell." He then tipped his hat to her after she stepped out and said, "Thanks for using Petropolis aerial taxi services."

Kitty nodded her head at her and immediately went back inside her home. Thankfully, Dudley, or any of her friends for that matter hadn't come by to visit. Kitty then sat down on her couch, trying to think of a way to break it to her team that she would soon be leaving them.

Unfortunately though, she quickly realized there would be no easy way to tell them this.

_No matter what I say, they're more than likely going to be very angry with me._

Feeling very anxious inside, Kitty decided to lie down on her bed and try to relax about her last and most likely, very painful day at T.U.F.F

However, it soon became obvious that she was too upset to relax, as Kitty couldn't stop dwelling on the following day. Again and again, it went through her mind, making her sadder the more she thought about it.

_Who am I kidding? I'm not going to be able relax about this one iota!_

Indeed she was right, as Kitty barely got any sleep that night, tossing and turning for hours, even having a nightmare of T.U.F.F turning on her after telling them the news.

At 6am, Kitty threw off the covers off her bed and got off of it, no longer able to stand it inside.

_I might as well as go and face the music. There's no getting around it._

Kitty then got ready for her job, taking a shower, dressing in usual attire afterwards and eating some breakfast. Although, her stomach was too nauseous from all her worrying from the previous day to feel very hungry.

An hour later, Kitty stepped out the door and headed for T.U.F.F in their sanctioned car, trying to keep her composure as she drove.

_Well, this is it. No turning back now._

Before she knew it, Kitty had arrived at T.U.F.F HQ. She then parked her car inside the compound and headed inside, preparing for her sad work day.

As she walked inside, Dudley quickly spotted her and said greeting his partner in his usual enthusiastic tone, "Hey, I see you're feeling better, Kitty. I'm so relieved!"

Kitty gave him a faint smile and replied, "Yea, nothing like a good night's sleep to get rid of a cold."

"So, you want to have lunch together again?" Dudley asked of her.

When Kitty looked at him puzzled, Dudley added with a slight, "You know, just as friends. I-I'm not asking you to a date or anything."

Kitty soon blushed at that thought too, replying, "Oh, y-yea, of course. I didn't think you were implying that at all."

"Great, see you then." Dudley said excited. "Hi Gee-Gee!"

Dudley then ran off to her work quarters. Kitty meanwhile went to talk with the Chief in his office about something important on her mind. However, once she stepped inside, her fears about T.U.F.F escalated, as she saw the Chief upset, as he was reading a letter he had received from the city.

"Is something wrong, Chief?" Kitty asked him.

"Oh, I see you're feeling better, Agent Katswell." The Chief commented. He then said with a look of rage, "The mayor of Petropolis just sent me an invoice, stating he's going to have a meeting at City Hall to discuss whether or not to cut our funding!"

Kitty gasped and said with a look of shock, "No, you're not serious."

"I am dead serious!" The Chief shot back. The small flea then crumpled up the letter and shouted after tossing it in the garbage. "I cannot believe this city is turning on us. How could they be so cold after everything we've done for them? It's like we don't even matter to Petropolis anymore!"

Kitty by now was speechless inside, as she didn't know how to answer what she had just heard. The Chief could tell she was disturbed by this news, so he said to her, "Well, if they think we're so worthless, maybe it's time we give them a refresher course!"

"Chief, what are you going to do if they don't want us anymore?" Kitty inquired.

"That won't happen!" The chief told her firmly. "If I have anything to say about it, T.U.F.F will not be going anywhere, not ever!"

"Well, I hope you're right about this, Chief." Kitty said to him softly.

"So, what is it you wanted to see about, Agent Katswell?"

Kitty hesitated to speak, eventually saying, "Uh, never mind. It can wait till later."

She then turned and left the room, leaving the Chief puzzled by her actions. After she exited his office, Kitty walked towards her desk and sat down, doing some computer work.

Not surprisingly, Kitty found herself unable to concentrate, as her mind couldn't stop thinking about her recent decision. She tried her hardest to push it aside, but it was of no use. It was eating at her conscience like termite to wood.

_This is going to be one of the longest days of my life. I just know it._

After hearing what the Chief told her, Kitty in some ways didn't blame herself for taking the job at G.U.N now. But at the same, she couldn't help but wonder how hard her friends here would take the news.

_Let face it, Kitty, this is one of those screwed if you do, screwed if you don't scenarios. Either way, nobody wins._

Fortunately for her, Kitty was able to settle down some and concentrate on her work at hand. Hours soon passed, as Dudley came up from behind while she was typing and said, "Hey, Kitty, you ready to go?"

Kitty turned around startled and asked, "Ready for what?"

"Why, lunch at the Petropolis Diner Cafe, of course. It's our lunch break now"

Kitty then looked at the clock and realized it had snuck up on her. "Wow, time sure flies when you concentrate on your work." She commented to Dudley with a nervous chuckle.

"So, you ready to go, partner?" Dudley asked, extending his hand to her.

"Yea… sure." Kitty replied softly. "Let's go."

And with those words, the two of them walked out of the T.U.F.F building and headed towards the diner. As they headed inside, one of the waitresses' there said, greeting them warmly, "Welcome to Petropolis Diner Café. How many is in your party?"

"Just two." Dudley answered. "And, we'd like a booth near the window if possible."

"Of course, right this way." The waitress said, grabbing two menus and walked towards the back. Dudley and Kitty soon followed behind her.

As it turned out, there was only an open booth with a window seat near the back of the building. She then put the menus on the table and said, "Ok, here you go, you two."

"Thanks." Dudley told her, soon sitting down.

After Kitty down on the opposite side, the waitress asked with a wink, "So, is this your girlfriend?"

"What?" Dudley looked at the waitress with shock and horror. Kitty's reaction was that X10.

"Well, this is the second time I've seen you two sitting together." The waitress explained. "I was just curious."

"No, no, no." Dudley corrected, waving his hands back and forth several times. "We're just friends and partners at T.U.F.F."

"Oh, you're with T.U.F.F?" The waitress asked perplexed. "Didn't I hear that organization might get their funding cut soon?'

Hearing that made Kitty feel sad inside. Dudley on the other hand took the offensive, saying, "Yea, we've heard, but it isn't going to happen! The citizens of Petropolis owe us too much after all the villains we've put away!"

"I don't mean any offense." The waitress told him. "I was just telling you what I heard." She then got her notepad and asked, "So, what'll you have to drink?"

Kitty and Dudley again ordered the same thing, as the waitress said, "Ok, then, I'll be right with your lemon lime sodas."

After she left to go get them, Dudley commented to Kitty with a frown, "I can't believe this city is actually going to have a meeting about our value to them! Are they crazy? What, was getting rid of Snaptrap and Birdbrain not good enough for them?"

"I know, Dudley, it's awful." Kitty replied, sighing heavily.

Dudley noticed Kitty's sad facial expressions, so he said trying to cheer her up, "Hey, c'mon, we'll get through this. No way is T.U.F.F going to be gone. We got too much evidence against them for the city go through with this insane decision of theirs."

"I hope you're right about this, Dudley, I really do."

The rest of the lunch soon became a blur to the feline agent, as she soon was lost in her own thought process. Dudley meanwhile tried to get a conversation going, but thankfully didn't do too much of that, as he ordered a large steak with baked potatoes and vegetables, soon devouring every last bite of it. Kitty on the other hand ordered a light meal, basically a salad with a turkey club sandwich. As before, her stomach was too nervous to feel like eating a lot.

After their lunch break was over, both T.U.F.F agents returned to work, where Kitty went back to her desk, resuming her computer work. Unfortunately though, Kitty quickly discovered her emotional frame of mind abruptly went on the fritz, as she saw the clock and realized there was less than four hours left in the work day. It would soon become four of the most agonizing hours she would ever endure.

_I can't believe it. Only four more hours, and I'm no longer a T.U.F.F agent._

Kitty now felt deep sadness inside of her, as she soon thought back to all the wonderful memories she had had with T.U.F.F, from all her battles with Snaptrap, putting the Chameleon behind bars, even the tiffs she had with Dudley during their time together as partners.

_This place gave me some of the best moments of my life, and yet, it's a place I'll be leaving soon. Oh, why did it have to come to this?_

Deep down, Kitty was almost certain T.U.F.F was done for, as she could sense the city was not kidding around about cutting their funding. If their funding went, the T.U.F.F organization would soon go under as well.

Of course, there was a slight chance it might not happen, but unfortunately, it was too late now to back out of her new job without repercussions.

_Well, Kitty, you made your choice. Now you have to live with it. I just hope I made the right one._

With a half hour to go, Kitty had finished her computer tasks for the day. She even cleaned her desk to a spic and span shine. There was now nothing to do to keep her occupied. Kitty had been using her work schedule to delay this announcement as long as possible, since she was dreading this deeply with every fiber of her being.

Not being able to stand it any longer, Kitty stood up and addressed her team, who were all in the room at that moment.

"Everyone, can I have your attention for a minute? I… have an announcement to make." She said sullen.

Her team turned their heads and looked at her puzzled.

"What is it, Agent Katswell?" The Chief asked.

"Well, there's something I need to tell you all." Kitty replied, trying to keep her composure.

"Are you going to tell us that you're now d-d-dating our water delivery guy?" Keswick inquired.

"What?" Kitty quickly blushed at that suggestion, shaking her head and replying, "No, this has nothing to do with my love life."

"Well, what is it then?" Dudley asked, now deeply curious.

Kitty tried to speak, but nothing was coming out. The words she attempted to say seem to elude her. This went on for over ten seconds, making her T.U.F.F comrades concerned.

"Kitty, are you feeling ok?" Dudley asked her.

"I'm fine, Dudley." she replied, trying to keep from shaking. "But what I'm trying to say is…"

"Yes?"

Kitty again fought to say the words, finally able to blurt them out a few seconds later, "I'm…. leaving…. T.U.F.F."

"WHAT?" Everyone in the building almost said this unison, looking on in disbelief at what they had just heard,

"Kitty, what are you saying?" Dudley asked, now with deep shock on his face.

Kitty's eyes began to well up, as she replied, "I'm quitting T.U.F.F, effective today."

The Chief bounced towards her and demanded, "You can't be serious!"

"I'm afraid I am, sir. I wish I wasn't." Kitty told him sullen.

"But why would you do that?" Dudley asked, now beginning to tear up himself. "Don't you know how much we care about you?"

Kitty could sense the heart break in his voice, as she said, trying not to break down in front of him, "I know, and I care about you all too. But, I just can't stay here any longer."

"Why not?" The Chief demanded with anger in his voice. "What in Petropolis would make you decide something this ridiculous anyway?"

"I know this may sound selfish to you all," Kitty explained with a sniffle, "But I'm tired of sitting around, doing nothing to help people in need. I want to be out there, fighting crime and making a difference." She then said after a brief pause, "That's why sadly I'm leaving T.U.F.F and taking a job with another agency. I'm really sorry, everyone"

The Chief looked at her with disgust, now feeling completely betrayed, "I cannot believe your conduct, Agent Katswell. We're in the middle of a crisis and you just decide to jump ship?" He pointed a finger at her, shouting, "You sicken me!"

"Please, Chief, it's not what you think. I…"

"It's exactly what I think it is!" The Chief shot back. "T.U.F.F may be going under, and instead of sticking with us through thick and thin, you found another opportunity to save your own hide. Well, go ahead, go work for another group! As far as I'm concerned, you're the most selfish agent I ever knew!"

"But, Chief…"

"Get out of my building, you traitor, and don't you ever come back!"

Kitty looked completely heartbroken after he had shouted that to her, but did as she told, slowly turning her head and walking away. While she walked towards the exit, she said softly, "Goodbye, everyone. I hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive me someday."

The Chief was about to shout again, when Keswick intervened and said, "N-N-Now, sir. You're going to give yourself a stroke if you don't settle down."

The Chief sighed and said to him, sitting down with his elbows on his knees, "I can't believe this is happening. I thought her of all people would stand by with me until the very end."

"Well, m-m-maybe she felt she had no choice." Keswick explained. "After all, our work schedule has been v-v-very light the past month."

"But why would she bail on us?" The Chief asked. "I've basically been like a father to her."

While Keswick tried to calm the Chief down, Dudley ran after her, saying, "Kitty, wait up!"

By the time he caught up to her, Kitty was outside the building, heading for home. Dudley then asked her after doing so, "Kitty, please wait up!"

"Save it, Dudley." Kitty replied, now trying to not cry inside. "I don't want to hear anymore tongue lashing. This is hard enough for me as it is."

Dudley though wouldn't take no for an answer, as he soon stood in front of her, looking his partner in the eye and asking with his sad eyes, "At least tell me why you don't want to be my partner anymore. You owe me that much."

Kitty was on the verge of breaking down after seeing his tearful expression on his face. So, she put a hand on his right shoulder and replied, "Dudley, I never wanted to stop being your partner. Honest, I didn't."

"Then why are you doing this?" Dudley demanded. "Why, why why?"

Kitty couldn't think of what to say at first, but then said eventually, "I wish I could explain it clearly to you, but I just feel it's time for me to move on."

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Dudley protested. "After all the hours we spent together, getting to know each, working on cases, beating up bad guys…" He then added, now with tears streaming down his face, "Did that not mean anything to you?"

Kitty couldn't fight her emotions any longer, as she hugged Dudley tightly, softly crying on his shoulder. She then said after composing herself, "Of course it did, Dudley. It was one of the joys of being your partner."

"So why are you throwing it all away now?" Dudley inquired with confusion. "I don't understand."

"I don't want to throw it all away." Kitty explained, still teary eyed. "But at the same time, I can't take our city's lack of appreciation for our efforts anymore. Their attitude has really hurt my feelings. I almost feel like they've stabbed us in the back now."

Dudley understood her feelings on this. He too was angry and hurt by the city's recent cold attitude towards T.U.F.F. He then said after a long pause, "Well, can you at least tell me where you're working?"

"Why?" Kitty asked confused.

"I'd just like to know." Dudley replied curious. "Please…?"

Kitty at first hesitated to tell him, but decided to anyway. "Ok, I guess I owe you that much." She sighed heavily and said, "I'm working for G.U.N now."

Dudley had never heard of that group, so Kitty filled him in. "They're technically a group of secret agents as well, only they're more humans than our kind."

"I see." Dudley by now was in deep thought. He then asked after another pause, "Well, why don't you let me come with you?"

"What?"

Dudley put a hand on her right shoulder and explained, "If you won't come back to T.U.F.F, then at least me come with you to G.U.N."

"But why would you want to do that?" Kitty inquired puzzled.

"Because…" Dudley replied, looking her in the eye. "You're my partner, and… I care about you a lot."

Kitty looked at him deeply touched and said, "Really? Even after everything?"

Dudley nodded his head and answered, "Yes. So, will you grant me this request?"

Kitty thought it over, then said shaking her head sadly, "As much as I appreciate this sweet offer of yours, I can't accept it."

Dudley looked at her perplexed and asked, "But why? Don't you want me to go along with you?"

"I do, Dudley, but…"

"But what?"

"Well… T.U.F.F is going to need at least one of us in case another crime wave hits Petropolis."

"Oh, yea… I see what you mean." Dudley unfortunately knew this was true.

"Plus, I wouldn't want the Chief to hate you too." Kitty explained. "You'd be throwing your career away here without a guarantee of finding work with me."

Dudley hated to admit it, but he knew she was right. So, he said after another long pause while rubbing his neck, "I guess I'll stay at T.U.F.F then."

"Thanks, Dudley." Kitty said with a slight smile.

Dudley then looked at her and asked softly, "So, is this it for us? Are we officially going our separate ways?"

Kitty hesitated at first, trying to think of what to say. She then replied after pondering it for awhile, "Well, we can still keep in contact."

"You sure about that?" Dudley asked with arched eyebrows.

"Of course." Kitty answered warmly. "After all, we'll still be friends, just not partners anymore."

"Yea, I guess that's true." Dudley commented, now looking at the ground.

After he said this, there was a long period of silence between them, as neither of them knew what to say. Dudley finally filled the void, saying softly, "I'm really going to miss you, Kitty."

Kitty grabbed both of his hands with hers and replied, "I'll miss you too, Dudley. Thanks for being such a wonderful friend to me."

Both of them then embraced each other, as Kitty said softly to him emotionally, "Good bye, partner."

Bye, Kitty." Dudley replied, now with emotion in his voice as well. "I wish you success at your new job at G.U.N."

"Thanks, Dudley. And, who knows? Maybe it won't work out and I'll come back to T.U.F.F someday."

"Yea… maybe…"

Kitty then did something she had never done before with him. Before she left, Kitty gave him a peck on his right cheek, surprising even Dudley, making him blush. She soon walked away after doing this, waving at him.

Dudley waved back at Kitty, watching her until she disappeared out of his sight. He then put a hand on his right cheek, rubbing the place she had just kissed. A few seconds later, he turned around and walked back to T.U.F.F, deeply sad inside.

After he walked back inside the T.U.F.F building, a figure in the shadows emerged from the alley way, chuckling to himself.

"My plan is working better than expected." he said softly with glee. "I thought I'd only put T.U.F.F out of business, but with Agent Katswell quitting as well, now I can really strike fear into the citizens of Petropolis without fear of failure."

He then added, boasting, "Be very afraid, city of Petropolis. For soon, I shall make you deeply regret getting rid of T.U.F.F. And once they're gone, your town is mine! Muh ha ha ha ha!"


	5. First day at GUN

Kitty meanwhile walked home with a very heavy heart, also deeply saddened by the fact her career at T.U.F.F was over. It was a job she had wished she could have kept longer.

_Did I make the right decision? I guess only time will tell._

Once she made it home, Kitty walked into her bedroom and sat on her bed, sobbing heavily with her head down while her face was buried in her arms. She could no longer hold in her emotions after the difficult news she had just told her former team. The fact the Chief now hated her was really hard for to accept. As he had said, he was like a father figure to her during her time at T.U.F.F.

For the next couple of days, Kitty was deeply depressed inside, as she had a hard time coping with her recent losses. Nonetheless, she vowed to be ready for her new job, no matter what.

_I can't let the Commander down now, not after everything I've sacrificed to get this job._

So, Kitty gathered her courage, got her composure together and prepared to get her things in order to be ready to go come Monday.

Before she knew it, Monday had indeed come, but she was ready to go, as she had her agent bag with her, stepping towards the curb by her house and waiting for her ride. Two minutes later, her transportation finally arrived, pulling up to the curb where she was standing.

The driver opened his door on the left side and said greeting her after getting out, "Morning, Miss Katswell, ready to go?"

Kitty nodded her head, as the driver walked over to her side and opened her door for her. Once she was inside, the door went back to his side and got in, buckling up and then starting the car. Seconds later, he hit the accelerator and took off, soon getting airborne.

After the car was at the right altitude, the driver commented, "So, you're heading back to Central City, near the G.U.N building again I see?"

"Yea, that's right." Kitty replied. "I got a job with them now."

"I see…" The driver said. "I guess that answers my question of what you chose to do regarding your career."

Kitty again nodded her head, soon sighing heavily and said, looking down at the floor. "Yea, you could say that."

"Did your comrades at T.U.F.F understand your decision?" The driver inquired with curiosity.

"No, unfortunately not." Kitty answered sadly. "Most of them hate me now."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he told her sympathetically. "Hopefully at your new job you'll find new people to be friends with."

"Maybe…" Kitty though hated the idea of having to make new friends, as her old ones made her feel content already.

Kitty then began to be in deep thought, as she took out a photo from her bag. Inside it was picture of them all smiling for a group photo. Seeing this soon made her tear up again, as she realized how much she would really miss them.

Ninety minutes later, Kitty arrived at the entrance of the G.U.N, where the driver had parked near the curb of the front door.

Kitty then stepped out of the car and said to the driver, "Thanks again."

"No problem." He told her. "I'll come pick you up when you're ready to go."

And with those words, he took off.

Kitty then made her way inside G.U.N HQ, where she soon sat down in the same bench outside the Commander's office, waiting for the ok to come in. Several minutes went by, with a secretary soon coming out and saying, "Ok, he'll see you now."

Kitty quickly stood up and headed inside, where he saw him behind his desk, looking at some top secret papers. He then saw her new agent walking in and said with warm smile, "Ah, right on time. You're off to a good start, Miss Katswell."

"No problem, sir." Kitty replied softly. "So, I'm just wondering. What is my first assignment?"

"Your first assignment?"

"Yea. I mean, if it's ok with you, I'd like to go on a mission where Dr. Eggman is and…"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on, Miss Katswell." The Commander told her firmly. "I think you're jumping the gun here."

"I don't understand." Kitty said puzzled. "Is my rank too low to go on a mission like that?"

"Well, the truth of the matter is… You're technically not an agent yet."

"What?" Kitty looked on deeply perplexed. "I thought you said I got the job."

"You did." The Commander replied. "But you're officially a rookie agent in training at the moment."

"What does that mean?" Kitty inquired.

"It means, you're not given the ok to go on any dangerous missions yet. Right now, you're going to be put on some training missions so we can…"

"Training missions?"

"Yes, to see what you can do on the battlefield."

"I don't understand. I thought you were impressed by my skills." Kitty said, now putting her hands at her waist.

"I was, Miss Katswell," The Commander explained. "But anyone can show solid skills to me when there's no pressure. I want to know how you'll perform when you've got bullets flying around your head."

"What?"

"It's a figure of speech." The Commander told her. "In other words, I want to see how you'll do when the pressure is on, and there's a lot at stake."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Kitty demanded, now a bit annoyed.

"I suppose I should have…" The Commander said. "I apologize for not being more upfront with you. But anyway, right now, your first order of business is going on some training missions with a veteran G.U.N agent."

As Kitty looked at him with confusion, he explained to her, "The G.U.N agent will be basically be your instructor. If they like what they see, they'll pass you, thus allowing you to go on official missions with the rest of our elite agents."

"Well, I guess that makes sense." Kitty commented softly.

Moments later, a G.U.N agent walked into the building, none other than Topaz, who soon walked up to the Commander's desk.

Kitty then asked, "Is she my instructor?"

"Unfortunately not." The Commander replied. "She's officially on vacation and won't be back till next week."

"And it's been long overdue." Topaz retorted firmly.

"Yes, I'm aware of the fact I haven't let you have some free time in awhile." The Commander said. "Anyway, have fun, but be back here next week at 9am on the dot."

"As you wish, sir."

Topaz then left the room. Afterwards, the Commander pressed a button on his intercom phone and said to her secretary, "Send in Agent Rouge to my office right away."

"Yes, Commander."

"Agent Rouge?" Kitty inquired puzzled. "Who's that?"

"One of our best agents," The Commander explained. "though bit of a renegade I have to admit. Since she's technically one of your kind, I figure she's the best choice for you to be your trainer."

"Sir, why do they call our kind Mobians?" Kitty inquired.

"Well, from what I've heard, you're originally from another planet called Mobius and somehow ended up here for the time being."

"But, Commander, you should know, I'm not from…"

Kitty was then interrupted, as Rouge opened the door abruptly, saying, "Did you call for me, Commander?"

Kitty looked at her peculiarly, as she had never seen a bat like this before.

"Yes, I did." The Commander replied. "I have an assignment for you."

"Sounds interesting." Rouge commented, walking towards his desk. "So, what would like from me this time? Another Chaos Emerald perhaps?"

_Chaos Emerald?_

"No, not this time." The Commander answered. "I need you to train a new agent of ours."

"Really?" Rouge said with a smirk. "You've never asked me to do this before. But, sure, why not?" She then looked around the room and asked, "So, where is this hotshot?"

"Uh, she's to your left." The Commander replied firmly.

Rouge turned her head, and took a good look at Kitty, soon chuckling to herself. Kitty frowned at this as the female bat commented, "Her? You must be joking."

"No, I'm very serious, Agent Rouge. I expect you to train her, show her the ropes of being a G.U.N agent. Can you do this for me?"

Rouge smirked again, and then said after a pause, "You guys must be really desperate for help to hire a lightweight like her."

"Lightweight?" Kitty was incensed by that comment, soon pointing a finger in her face and shouting, "Why I'll have you know..."

"Now, now, Miss Katswell." The Commander said to her, holding his right hand up. "No need to get all riled up." He then turned to Rouge and told her, "Please refrain from name calling, especially since you haven't gotten to know her yet."

"I don't need to get to know her to see what she is." Rouge declared bluntly. She soon added when the Commander frowned at her, "But, I shall oblige you on this small request of yours and train her."

"Thank you." he said. "Now then, why don't you two take a minute to get know each other before heading out."

The Commander then got out some folders to look at, as both Kitty and Rouge turned to face each other.

"So, you're the new G.U.N agent, eh?" Rouge said not impressed. "You must have really pulled the wool over his eyes to get this…"

"That's enough, Rouge." The Commander told her firmly. "Now properly introduce yourselves so you can be on your way."

Rouge scowled at his orders, but complied with them nonetheless. She then stuck out her hand and said, "Anyway, I'm Rouge, Rouge the bat. What's your name?"

Kitty reluctantly shook her hand and replied, "I'm Kitty, Kitty Katswell.

Hearing that name almost made Rouge sputter with laughter. "That's your name?"

"Yes, it is." Kitty answered with a frown. "Is there a problem with that?"

Not wanting to rile up the Commander any further, Rouge replied, "Oh, no, not at all."

Rouge then turned her head and chuckled to herself, trying not to laugh too loudly. Kitty though could sense what she was doing, making the feline agent frown again with her arms crossed

Eventually, the Commander spoke up and said, "All right, that's enough introductions. Now go on out and train her."

"As you wish, sir." Rouge said with fake respect in her voice.

The two gals then headed out of his office and walked towards the elevator. As they walked, Rouge told Kitty, "I noticed you had quite a short fuse back there. You strangely remind me of a certain, annoying red echidna I have to admit."

"Look, would you stop with the games already?" Kitty said to Rouge with disgust. "I know you don't think very highly of me, but at least let me prove my worth to you in these training missions, all right?"

"Well, somebody certainly got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Rouge commented, now pushing the button near the elevator doors. "Lighten up. I'm just testing you."

"Well you can test me once we're outside." Kitty shot back. "My actions do the talking for me."

"Yea, yea, we'll see about that." Rouge said, blowing her off, stepping inside the elevator, with Kitty soon following suit.

As the elevator went down, Rouge said to her, "You should know being a G.U.N agent is a very tough job. In fact, it could get you killed if you're not careful."

"I'm fully aware of that." Kitty told her. "I didn't spend time at another spy agency for nothing."

"Oh, you worked for another agency, did you?" Rouge said with curiosity. "What was the name of it?"

"T.U.F.F"

Rouge again laughed heartily, saying, "Them? Oh please, no wonder I think you're a lightweight. That's one of the weakest agencies I've ever seen."

"Hey, I resent that comment!" Kitty shouted angrily.

"Resent it all you want, cat girl." Rouge retorted, "Because in this line of work, you're going to have to put on your big girl panties and fight like a solider in order to survive here."

Kitty hated that name Rouge called her, but decided to let it go for now. "I can do that. Just get me on a test mission and I'll show you what I can do."

The elevator then stopped at the designated level, with the doors opening as Rouge replied while stepping out, "Very well then. You asked for it."

After Kitty walked out as well, she asked, "So tell me, what's the place where my first mission is going to be anyway?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Rouge said with a sly smirk.

"Just tell me already!" Kitty demanded. "You owe me that much at least."

"All right, all right, sheesh, don't get your fur in such a knot." Rouge muttered with a sigh. She then told her, "Your first mission will be on Angel Island."

"Angel Island?"

"Yes, you got a problem with that?" Rouge asked.

"No, no, of course not. I just never heard of the place." Kitty explained.

"Well, you will eventually."

Both gals then headed outside and walked towards a helipad, where they saw a G.U.N chopper in front of them.

"That'll be your transportation." Rouge said to Kitty. "Assuming of course you can fly this."

"I can fly anything." Kitty replied boldly. She then got inside it where she soon asked, "So where's your vehicle?"

"I don't need one." Rouge told her. "I can fly there."

"You what? That far?"

"Hey, I am a bat after all."

"Err, right…"

"Anyway, since it's only a few miles," Rouge said confidently. "I should be able to fly there without too much difficulty."

Rouge then walked off and was about to fly when Kitty asked, "Wait, hold on a minute.

"Yes, cat girl?"

"Don't call me that." Kitty told her sharply. "I just have one more question."

"Yes?"

"Um, what is my mission at Angel Island exactly?"

"Well, if you must know, I'll need you to help me find a big emerald for me, known as the Master Emerald."

"Uh, why do I need to do that?"

"Hey, I'm the instructor here, don't forget." Rouge told her.

"Well, can you at least tell me why we need to find it?" Kitty inquired.

Rouge again sighed and replied with a frown, "All right, I guess I'll tell you since you're the nosy type."

As Kitty frowned at that statement, Rouge told her, "The Master Emerald is the most powerful emerald in this world, thus making it very valuable. So, I need you to help me ste… I, uh, mean study it so I can give G.U.N a full report about its energy capabilities."

"You're sure this is legal?" Kitty asked with arched eyebrows.

"Of course it is, silly." Rouge replied with a straight face. "What, you'd think I'd purposely get you into trouble or something?"

"I don't know, you tell me." Kitty retorted, crossing her arms together.

"You're really too paranoid for your own good." Rouge told her bluntly. "But anyway, let's not forget, I'm the instructor. You'll need me to help you to get into G.U.N, right?"

"Yea, true." Kitty muttered.

"So, from here on out, I expect you to trust me on what I ask of you and don't question my orders."

Kitty though couldn't help but feel suspicious at all of this. Nonetheless, she replied, "All right, whatever you say, Rouge."

"That's Miss Rouge to you." She told Kitty with authority in her voice.

While Kitty scowled at her sudden abuse of authority, Rouge said, "Now then, let's be off. Follow me, and I'll lead us to Angel Island."

"As you wish, Miss Rouge." Kitty muttered. The feline agent hated calling her that with every fiber of her being.

After Rouge flew into the air, Kitty started up the chopper and followed her.

_I gotta feeling this training session of ours is not going to end well, _Kitty thought to herself with a frown.


	6. Rouge's bizarre missions

15 minutes later, the two G.U.N agents arrived on Angel Island, but on the other side of it, far away from where the Master Emerald was being kept. After Kitty stepped out of the chopper, Rouge said, "Well, here we are."

Kitty looked around the place for a few seconds and then commented with intrigue, "Wow, is this Island really floating?"

"Of course, silly." Rouge replied with a smirk.

"Well, what's keeping it up?" Kitty inquired curious.

"How should I know?" Rouge answered with a straight face. "That's not the important right now anyway." She then looked Kitty firmly in the eye and said, "You've got test missions to fulfill, do you not?" 

"Yea, yea, I know…" Kitty muttered with a sigh. "Let's get this over with."

The two of them soon began to walk towards the Master Emerald after she said that, with Rouge quickly asking, "You got your gear ready?"

"Of course, I do, Rouge." Kitty replied, arching her right eyebrow.

"Ah, ah, ah, rookie agent. Remember, It's Miss Rouge."

Kitty groaned loudly at her insistentence of that title, soon saying with deep frustration, "I have everything ready to go, Miss Rouge. I wasn't a top agent at T.U.F.F for nothing."

"Uh huh, we'll see about that." Rouge retorted. "Anyway, we'll be arriving near the Master Emerald shortly."

"Just curious," Kitty inquired. "Why did you stop on the other side of the island when we have could flown much closer to our designated target?"

Rouge callously shrugged her shoulder and replied again with a straight face, "Eh, what can I say, I need some exercise. After all, a girl of my beauty has to keep in shape, right?"

That answer though didn't satisfy the feline agent, as she wondered if Rouge had ulterior motives for being here.

Halfway there, Rouge finally stopped, with Kitty asking, "Uh, is there a reason why you aren't walking now?"

"Of course there is, catgirl." Rouge answered.

"Would you please quit calling me that?" Kitty demanded exasperated. "It's getting on my nerves!"

"My, aren't you a touchy one." Rouge commented. "You know, if you're going to make a solid G.U.N agent, you're going to have to learn to keep your cool."

Kitty then decided to just keep her silence, shaking her head in disgust, as she knew there was no way she could get through to this bat without hurting her chances of passing these tests.

Seconds later, Rouge said to her, "We're stopping here because from here on out, you're going alone."

"What?" Kitty looked at the female bat deeply perplexed. "Why?"

"Because, rookie, I'm not going to hold your hand every step of the way. If you want to pass these tests, you're going to have to prove your worth without any help."

"So what am I supposed to do then?" Kitty demanded.

"Simple. Just keep walking towards the Master Emerald and scan it with an energy testing device. Once you get the reading down, report to G.U.N and give them the update.

"And what are you going to be doing during this time?" Kitty inquired, now deeply suspicious.

"What else, I'm going to watch you, see how you do. After all, I am your supervisor, am I not?"

As Kitty pondered this over, Rouge added, "The longer you waste time, the lower your score is going to be on these missions. If I were you, I'd get going."

"Fine, I will, Miss Rouge." Kitty replied, again saying her title with contempt in her voice.

Kitty then walked towards the Master Emerald, still very suspicious of this whole mission.

_I just don't see why we're here in the first place. I mean, this mission doesn't involve any weapons training, stealth techniques, or anything like that. Plus, couldn't G.U.N find someone else to scan that big gem?_

Another thing Kitty wondered is if anybody lived on this island. During the flight there, Rouge told her it was abandoned, but that explanation didn't make much sense to her.

_Somebody must live here for this jewel to still be here. Nobody would just leave it untouched this long. Then again, maybe because it's on a floating island and so big, nobody has been able to do so. _

Kitty however soon deduced that explanation of hers made no sense. Nonetheless, she decided to do what she was told and complete this mission, even if it did seem pointless to her.

Within a couple of minutes, she finally arrived at her destination, seeing the huge gem now within one hundred feet of her.

_Wow, it's even bigger than I thought. Well, time to get to work._

Kitty quickly walked up to the steps and crouched down at the top of the structure, getting out her power testing device. After turning it on and scanning the gem thoroughly, the power readings soon went on the fritz, as the Master Emerald had more energy than the device could handle to read.

_Good grief, this thing is loaded with energy, even more than I thought it had. This Emerald would certainly come in handy as a power source for G.U.N._

Kitty then put away her device and went to call the Commander. But as she was doing so, she couldn't help feeling somebody was watching her. She quickly turned around, scanning the area with her eyes, but saw no one.

_I thought for sure somebody was nearby. Oh well…_

Kitty again went to make that call, but again, her feelings of being watched were now going crazy. She quickly turned around again, and there she saw a large white fist coming at her with fierce power. Kitty barely got out of the way, as she ducked underneath it. Kitty now faced her foe, seeing a red echidna looking at her with fierce anger.

_What the…? Is this the same echidna Rouge was talking about earlier?_

"Dirty thief!" Knuckles shouted, pointing his right fist at her. "Thought you could take this gem behind my back? Well, you thought wrong!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Kitty asked deeply puzzled.

"Save your lies and fight me already!" the red echidna shot back

Knuckles then began to swing his fists again and again at Kitty, attacking each time with more ferocity than the last. Kitty however was able to evade his attacks, moving her head left to right, even ducking underneath.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Kitty demanded with a frown. "You could've really injured me!"

"I don't take too kindly to trespassers like yourself." Knuckles retorted, glaring at her. "Now either put up your dukes or get outta here!"

"You got me all wrong, echidna." Kitty explained. "I'm not…"

Knuckles though wouldn't let her finish that sentence, as he again attacked her, swinging his fists at the feline agent yet again rapidly. Kitty meanwhile had to take evasive maneuvers to avoid getting hit, even using a back flip to elude an oncoming flying punch at her.

After Kitty landed on the ground five feet away from him from the north, Knuckles said to her, "Stop dancing around and fight me, coward!"

Knuckles again charged after her, finally exhausting Kitty's patience. She decided then and there to fight back, though not to the point of hurting him too much. As soon as he was close enough for her tastes, Kitty tripped him up with her right foot, causing him to fall flat on his face.

Knuckles though got up quickly, growling at her intensely and again swinging his fists at the feline agent as fast and as hard as he could. Kitty at first evaded the attacks, but then grabbed his right fist, body slamming him to the ground, now flat on his back.

As Knuckles struggled to get up, Kitty said to him, "Now then, are you going to be civil and explain to me why you think I'm a thief, or what?"

Knuckles didn't even answer her, as he charged her once more. Now completely out of patience, Kitty again timed her approach, and then attacked him with a triple round house kick squarely to his face. Knuckles was sent flying off of the Master Emerald's structure, landing twelve feet backwards onto the ground, completely dazed and stunned.

Kitty then ran down the stairs towards where he had landed, but was shocked when she saw abruptly him stand up a few feet in front of her.

"Not bad, Catwoman," Knuckles said, trying to catch his breath. "You're a better fighter than I originally thought."

Kitty groaned loudly at this name, saying, "What is up with everyone calling that?"

Knuckles though ignored her last statement of protest, saying, "Even so, I'm not going to let you take my Master Emerald. I'll fight you to the death over it!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second." Kitty said, waving her hands back and forth. "Are you saying that this belongs to you?"

"Of course it does!" Knuckles replied with disgust at her question. "What, you didn't know that?"

"No, I had no idea." Kitty explained.

Knuckles studied her facial expressions thoroughly, eventually commenting, "I take it you're new to these parts."

"Actually, yes, I am." Kitty replied.

"So tell me then, why are you here in the first place?" Knuckles demanded.

"I don't want to be here, but this is part of my training."

"What training?" Knuckles inquired with curiosity.

"I'm training to become a G.U.N agent." Kitty told him. "And this is my first mission assignment."

"G.U.N?" Knuckles crossed his arms together and demanded, "What on earth do they want with my Emerald anyway?"

"Well, my instructor told G.U.N wanted a power reading about it, so that's what I was doing." Kitty explained.

Knuckles soon began to chuckle to himself, saying, "They wanted a power reading?" He then asked composing himself, "Just who is your instructor anyhow?"

"Uh, Rouge, Rouge the bat." Kitty replied.

"I thought so." Knuckles said with a frown. "Uh, look, Miss…"

"It's Kitty."

"Uh, right… Look, Kitty, I don't know how to tell you this, but you've been duped."

"What?" Kitty looked at the red echidna deeply confused. "What do you mean?"

"Rouge didn't send you here for a training mission," Knuckles told her, "but to use you instead as a diversion."

In that moment, it hit Kitty directly, as she knew he was right, soon putting a hand on her head, groaning loudly. "I don't believe this! That blasted bat tricked me!"

"Well, I really can't say that I'm surprised." Knuckles said. "Rouge has always manipulated others when the opportunity arrives."

"I should have known." Kitty muttered with a frown. "This mission smelled like a rat from the get go."

"Speaking of rats…" Knuckles turned around, and there he saw Rouge making her move, grabbing the Master Emerald with a large rope attached to it and preparing to fly off. Knuckles then shouted at her, "Hey, you! Stop right there, batgirl!"

"Sorry, idiot," Rouge retorted. "But I gotta a jewel to take, and I'm not leaving without it." She then waved at him tauntingly and added, "Ta ta."

"Oh no you don't!" Knuckles shot back.

"Let give you hand." Kitty suggested.

"While I appreciate the offer, Kitty, I'm the guardian of this island, and I have to defend my turf. Stay here."

Kitty did as she was told, watching as Knuckles ran up the stairs after Rouge. Within moments, he saw her spreading her wings, ready to take off. Unfortunately though, before he could reach the top, Rouge flew off, saying with her head with a smirk, "Looks like you're too slow again, moron. See ya."

Just then, Kitty noticed the ground underneath her was slowly sinking, making her quickly realize that the island was dropping to the ground below. It was at that moment she figured out that the island was being kept up by that large green gem.

Knuckles meanwhile wasn't about to give it up. Taking a few steps back, Knuckles then ran at full speed towards Rouge, jumping off the large structure and using his brief flying ability to get close enough to attack. Fortunately for the red echidna, he was able to get close enough; as he used his powerful fists to break several of the ropes Rouge was holding, causing the Emerald to drop the ground below.

Rouge immediately saw this, making her gasp and then growl with fierce anger. Within moments of this, the female bat flew towards the spot where the Master Emerald had landed. Knuckles meanwhile had already beaten her to it, as he was attempting to retrieve it and put it back on its pedestal. But before he could grab a hold of it, Rouge tried to attack him with a sharp flying kick to his face with her right boot. Knuckles though saw it coming, evading it by ducking underneath.

Rouge then said, glaring at him with fierce rage, "You can't ever let me be, can you? You just always have to get in my way!"

"I'll let you be when you stop trying to steal my Master Emerald, bat girl!" Knuckles retorted.

Kitty meanwhile had ran close by and was thinking about intervening, that is until Rouge shouted, "Nobody stops me from my jewel heists and gets away with it!"

"Oh yea, and just what are you going to do about it, batty?" Knuckles dared her.

"Just this!"

And with those words, the two of them began to fight each other viciously, throwing punches, kicks, even trying to the grab the other and toss them aside. Kitty was tempted to join in even then and help Knuckles out, but when she saw how rough they were brawling with each other, she thought better of it.

A minute into this, Rouge went all out, trying to hit Knuckles with a powerful screw kick. Knuckles though evaded it easily, as he dove out of way at the last second while Rouge hit the ground hard due her attack, putting a big hole into the ground. Kitty looked on shock at the devastation of her abilities. Knuckles on the other hand, looked inside the hole, wondering if the attack had hurt her more since she had missed.

Not surprisingly, Knuckles was proven wrong, as Rouge came flying out of it, attacking him with a vicious aerial roundhouse kick to his face, knocking the red echidna backwards on his rear. While he struggled to get up, Rouge took full advantage of it, hitting him with a few more round house kicks to his face. Due to her ferocity and speed, Knuckles was helpless to defend himself, as blow after blow hit him with full force. Once he was seriously stunned, Rouge went for the knockout, hitting him with a tornado kick between the eyes, sending him flying more than ten feet backwards, landing again on his back, groaning in pain.

Seconds later, while Knuckles attempted to get up, Rouge said to him with a taunt, "Give it up, you pathetic echidna. I'm too strong for you."

"Want to bet?" Knuckles shot back. He quickly pointed at her after standing up, adding, "I'd like to see you try that again."

Those words deeply infuriated the female bat, as she charged towards him at full speed. However, unknown to her, she was being set up this time, as Knuckles was planning to take advantage of her over pursuit.

As soon as Rouge was close enough, she again tried to attack with another string of powerful round house kicks, even trying to throw a few punches at him. Knuckles though evaded every attacks of hers with each, moving his head from left to right, ducking underneath, even jumping over her when necessary.

"Stand still, you idiot!" Rouge shouted at him, now beginning to lose her cool.

She then charged towards him again. This time though, Knuckles was ready for her, as he ducked at the last second while she attempted to hit the red echidna with another aerial round house kick. While he was evading, Knuckles timed his approach with perfection, quickly executing a strong uppercut punch, hitting Rouge directly underneath her chin, sending her flying backwards onto the ground on her back, seriously stunned.

"Hey, that was uncalled for!" Rouge yelled. "You're not supposed to hit a lady!"

"If you want me to treat you like a lady, then you better start acting like one." Knuckles retorted with a sly smirk.

Rouge growled at his words, charging towards him for the third time. But again, Knuckles was ready for her, as he prepared to counter her next move. Rouge then attempted to punch him with her fists a second time, but was taken completely off guard, as Knuckles grabbed her arms after a few swings, quickly spinning her around a half dozen times before tossing her aside onto the ground. Again, Rouge hit the floor hard, this time face first, now groaning slightly in pain herself.

"Now then, what were you saying about you being too strong for me?" Knuckles asked her smugly.

Rouge again growled after picking herself off the floor, declaring, "That does it! Now you're history!"

Kitty meanwhile continued to watch this battle between them with awe on her face, deeply impressed with Knuckles' battle tactics.

Yet again, Rouge went to attack him, now going all out once more, trying to nail the red echidna with multiple spinning roundhouse kicks to his face in rapid succession, even attempting another screw kick. Knuckles though was able to evade it again, as Rouge's latest attack instead damaged the island's ground a second time, putting another large hole into it.

Knuckles again looked into the hole, but this time as bait. Within seconds, Rouge saw him peeking inside and went to strike. However, as she went to attack with another spinning aerial roundhouse kick, Knuckles quickly moved his head to the right as it came towards him and then smacked the manipulating bat hard with a punch directly to her face, sending her flying into a nearby tree, hitting it squarely from behind. Rouge immediately fell to the ground, now almost knocked out cold. Seconds later, the island finally came to a stop in the middle of the ocean, causing a small rumble in the process as it did so.

Kitty quickly walked up towards Knuckles after it settled down and said, "Whoa, now that was some impressive fighting you just displayed there."

"Thanks." Knuckles replied to her, giving her a slight smile. "Anyway, I appreciate you letting me handle this alone. I do hope you understand, it's nothing personal. It's just that as guardian of the Master Emerald, my honor is at stake when someone tries to steal it."

"Yea, sure, don't worry about. It's cool." Kitty said to him.

Before either of them could say another word however, Rouge stood up abruptly, in spite of the fact she had just taken a beating. She then said, hissing at Knuckles, "You filthy echidna! You only beat me this time because you cheated!" Rouge quickly added while pointing a finger at him, "Well, make no mistake. The next time we meet, you won't be so lucky!"

And with those words, Rouge spread her wings and prepared to take off. Before she did though, she looked at Kitty and said, "C'mon, let's go. We've got more training missions to do anyway."

Kitty sighed heavily and replied rolling her eyes, "Yes, Miss Rouge, I'll be there in a minute."

Rouge then took off in a huff. Kitty meanwhile looked at Knuckles and said, "Guess I better be going, uh… I'm sorry; I don't think I got your name."

"It's Knuckles." He said with a slight smile.

"Oh, ok. So, Knuckles, no hard feelings about our little encounter earlier, right?"

"Ah, don't worry about it." Knuckles told her softly. "I can clearly see this was all Rouge's doing."

"Good." Kitty said with a hesitant chuckle. "Anyway, I've got to go now. More training missions to do."

Kitty was about to walk off, when Knuckles said, "Hey, hold on a sec."

"Yes?" Kitty turned around, looking at him a bit confused.

Knuckles quickly walked up to her and said, "I would take extra precautions while you're doing these so called training missions if I were you."

"Why is that?" Kitty inquired.

"Well, after what Rouge did to you here, there's no telling where she'll take you next. And, there's a good chance she's going to get you into more trouble as well."

Kitty realized this was true, as she sighed heavily. "Yea, you're right about that. But what can I do? I have to do these missions or I won't become a G.U.N agent."

"I know. Just make sure you keep some records that show that this wasn't your doing when G.U.N finds out about Rouge's little missions." Knuckles told her firmly. "That way, you'll be in the clear if anything comes up."

Kitty soon began to ponder this over, as Rouge quickly yelled from a distance a few seconds later, "Hey, catgirl! Let's go, we don't have all day!"

"Yes, Miss Rouge, I'm coming!"

Kitty quickly turned back to Knuckles and said, "I gotta go. See ya."

"See ya." He replied softly.

As Kitty began to walk away, she quickly stopped and said to him with a slight smile of her own, "Maybe we'll run into each again sometime."

"Yea, sure, why not?" Knuckles answered with a shrug.

And with those words, Kitty ran off towards Rouge. After she was out of sight, Knuckles thought to himself, _You know, she's not so bad for a female._

Thirty seconds later, Kitty caught up to Rouge, as she was now leaning up against a tree, brooding inside.

"Sorry about that." Kitty said softly. "I was just…"

"Just what do you think you were doing?" Rouge demanded with a frown.

"Uh, what are you talking about?" Kitty asked confused.

"I mean back there with him!" the female bat exclaimed.

"I was only trying to calm the waters about this whole situation is all." Kitty explained.

"You were doing more than that!" Rouge fired back. "You were flirting with my Knuckles!"

"What?" Kitty looked at her deeply perplexed. "Did you just say, your Knuckles?"

"Of course I did!" Rouge told her sharply. "It's bad enough you wouldn't lift a finger to help me out against that idiot, but the fact you were trying to woo him with your so called good looks and natural fighting skills is more than I can tolerate!"

"Are you seriously trying to tell me you really like that echidna?" Kitty asked in disbelief after a brief period of silence.

"What's that to you?" Rouge shot back.

"You were just beating up on the guy and trying to take his Emerald not even ten minutes ago." Kitty argued. "How is that love?"

Rouge though blew her off, retorting, "It's a complicated relationship. You wouldn't understand."

"How am I supposed to understand?" the feline agent argued again. "Even I didn't do that with my partner at T.U.F.F when we fought."

"Whatever." Rouge muttered. "Anyway, we don't have time to talk about this now. Right now, I've got to get you trained, do I not?"

"Yea, you do." Kitty replied, crossing her arms.

"Oh, in case you're wondering about your mission score," Rouge continued. "I'll give you a passing grade for it this time, but just barely. I really should flunk you for all the nonsense you put me through earlier."

"Oh yea, well, what about yours?" Kitty protested.

Rouge again blew her off, retorting, "Hey, I'm the instructor. Whatever I say, goes. You got that?"

By now, Kitty was beginning to seriously hate the fact Rouge had this much authority over her, but knew better than to argue with the female bat about it. So, she said in response while sighing, "Yes, Miss Rouge."

"Good. Now then, let's go find your chopper and be ready to leave." Rouge replied.

As they walked towards it, Kitty thought to herself firmly, _I'm not going to let this bat get me into anymore trouble. If she dare tries to assign me another pointless mission for her own personal gain, I'll have something to protect me as a precaution. I will not take the rap for her manipulating ways._

Not surprisingly, Rouge again had another bizarre mission for Kitty to do. This time, Rouge waited until nightfall, as she had them standing on a rooftop with a museum nearby in front of them.

"Ok, it's time to start your second mission." Rouge told Kitty. "Let's get ready to go."

"You haven't even told me why we're here in the first place." Kitty replied with a frown. "And why haven't we done any missions for the past eight hours?"

"Simple, rookie. This mission has to be done at night." Rouge explained, again with a straight face.

"And what is this mission you have in mind anyhow?" Kitty inquired, showing deep suspicion.

"You'll see." Rouge then handed Kitty a black colored stealth suit and added, "Here, put this on."

"Why?"

"Because, catgirl, this is going to be a stealth mission."

"I told you, stop calling me…"

"I will call you that if I want to." Rouge told her firmly. "I am your supervisor after all."

Kitty again groaned loudly at her response, as Rouge soon asked sarcastically afterwards, "Well, would you rather I called you Catwoman, as that idiot echidna did earlier?"

"I'd rather you just called me Kitty, or even agent Katswell if that's not good enough for you."

"When you move up the ranks, I'll consider that." Rouge replied with a sly smirk. "Now, put this on."

Kitty took the suit and put it on, though with extreme reluctance. As it turned out, it covered everything but her eyes.

"Is this suit really necessary for a stealth mission?" Kitty inquired suspiciously.

"Yes, it is." Rouge answered firmly, who also had her own suit on as well. "Now stop your whining and follow my lead."

"Yes, Miss Rouge." Kitty muttered again, while rolling her eyes.

Kitty then watched as Rouge flew towards the museum, eventually landing on its glass roof.

_What in the world is she doing up there? _Kitty thought suspiciously.

"Hey, what's the hold up, Catwoman?"

_Oh great, now she's calling me Catwoman! _

Kitty though soon followed suit, using a hookshot from her bag that hooked onto to part of the museum's rooftop, quickly swinging onto the glass roof with her. But before she did, she grabbed a device from her bag and activated it, now putting inside her suit.

"About time you got here." Rouge said firmly, tapping her foot impatiently. "You better stop slowing me down or I'm going to dock you points."

"Why are we even here in the first place?" Kitty asked.

"Because, rookie, your mission is inside this building."

"What?" Kitty looked at Rouge deeply confused. "But this is city property!"

"Not tonight. I had G.U.N ask the city to let us use this building as part of your training."

Kitty though didn't buy that explanation, as she furrowed her eyebrows as the female bat.

"That doesn't make any sense." Kitty protested. "There are valuables in there."

"Relax; they've been replaced with counterfeit ones during this stealth mission of ours." Rouge told her. "Now let's get a move on."

Kitty however didn't budge, as she crossed her arms saying, "I want to check with G.U.N before doing this. This sounds way too off the wall to be the real deal."

"Hey, are you questioning my authority?" Rouge demanded. "Let's not forget, my word can make or break your chances here."

"Yea, well how do I know you're not tricking me into another of your convoluted schemes like you did at Angel Island?" Kitty argued.

"Look, if you're not going to do as I tell you, I'll call G.U.N right now and tell them to flunk you for failing to cooperate with me." Rouge threatened.

"You wouldn't dare." Kitty challenged.

"Want to bet, Catwoman?"

Kitty soon saw Rouge was dead serious about her threat, as she held out a phone and was attempting to dial G.U.N HQ that very instant. Kitty then said, "Ok, ok, you win. I'll do as you say." 

"I thought you might." Rouge replied with a sly grin. "All right, let's go."

Rouge then cut a hole into the glass roof with her foot, putting the cut piece aside. After she did so, the manipulating bat dropped into the museum, using her wings to slow her decent while Kitty eventually followed suit, using the hookshot again to help her inside. Fortunately for both of them, the alarm didn't sound.

Once Kitty was on the ground, she looked around and saw the alarm system was still intact, deepening her suspicions.

"This cannot be legit." Kitty told Rouge. "The museum's alarm system hasn't even been shut off."

"Of course not, silly." Rouge replied. "It's part of the mission training."

"And just how is this a training mission anyway?" Kitty inquired with a frown.

"Why, to see how well you do within a secure area, of course." Rouge explained.

As Kitty looked at her with arched eyebrows, Rouge added, "Think of this like an enemy base. If you can keep from tripping any alarms, you got what it takes to be a solid G.U.N agent."

"And what is my stealth mission in this area?" Kitty asked.

"Your mission is to try and take one of the exhibits in here, particularly a mirror overlaid with gold around it." Rouge replied.

When Kitty tried to protest, Rouge said, "Hey, hey, relax. It's a fake. All you're going to do is take the fake and try to get out without setting off any alarms."

"You sure about that?" Kitty asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. Now stop questioning my orders and do them."

Kitty sighed heavily, but did as she was told.

_I just know this mission smells. _She eventually thoughtas she walked around._ Oh well, I do have a backup plan in case this is indeed a trap._

Thanks to being highly trained, Kitty was able maneuver through the museum without tripping off any alarms in the process. Within a minute, she saw the exhibit that Rouge was talking about.

As Kitty took a closer look at the mirror, she thought to herself with a frown, _this is too authentic looking to be a fake! _

Rouge then said to her from behind, "Hey, are you going to take it or not? You're not going to pass this mission without it!"

_I cannot believe I'm doing this. This is so stupid! _

Nonetheless, Kitty decided to go through with it. Using precision and caution, she carefully grabbed the mirror, not touching any of the alarm lasers that surrounded it. The laser pattern was a very tough one, as it was a tall and narrow square pattern around all four sides.

After Kitty gently picked it up, Rouge said to her with a smirk, "Impressive work, rookie. You're better than I thought. Now's let get out of here."

"Ok."

Unfortunately for Kitty though, she eased up after Rouge said that to her and accidently had one of the edges of the mirror touch part of the lasers.

Within moments, the alarm blared loudly, as Kitty realized she had blown it. Rouge on the other hand slapped her forehead, muttering, "Looks like I complimented you too soon."

"Now what, Miss Rouge?" Kitty asked a bit concerned.

"What else, run!"

"But why?" Kitty asked confused.

Just then, the feline agent heard sirens in the background, making her realize this was another trap.

_I should have known this would happen! Why did I ever listen to this conniving bat?_

Kitty was tempted to yell at her, but thought better of it, as the police soon began to head towards the building. Thankfully, Rouge ran up to her and said, "Here, grab a hold of me. I'll fly us to safety."

"You sure you can carry me?"

"Would you rather get caught, Catwoman?"

Kitty didn't argue any further, as she grabbed onto Rouge by her shoulders, as she spread her wings and took off for the roof. While she did so, the police finally came running inside, but saw they were too late.

"Where did they go?" One cop asked, looking around the area.

Another officer soon saw the cut roof, saying, "They went up there! After them!"

And with those words, the police were in hot pursuit. But unfortunately for them, Rouge again outwitted the cops, as she took Kitty to a special hiding place of hers on one of the rooftops nearby where they wouldn't be found out.

Minutes later, now secure inside, Kitty looked around and saw choppers with lights scoping the area. Thankfully for the two of them, Rouge's hiding place blocked off any chance of them being caught.

"Another fine mess you got us into!" Kitty shouted at Rouge, while taking off her stealth suit. "I should have known this was another trick of yours!"

"Hey, don't blame me." Rouge replied, shrugging her shoulders, now with her head covering off. "It's not my fault I have a taste for expensive treasures."

Those words however infuriated the feline agent, but decided not to hit her, at least not yet. Instead, Kitty took out a device and scanned the golden mirror. As she had thought, it was real gold.

"As I thought, this is real too." Kitty said to Rouge. She then glared at her and added, "You make me sick. What kind of G.U.N agent are you to be this deceptive anyway?"

Again, Rouge shrugged his shoulders, replying, "When G.U.N's objectives suit me, I follow them. When they don't, I follow my own. It's as simple as that."

"How in the world are you still with them?" Kitty demanded. "You're way too much of a liability to be of any use!"

"Maybe so, but when I decide to do the job they ask of me, it's done better than any of those moron soldiers can." Rouge retorted.

Kitty soon shook her head, saying after a brief period of silence, "Do you realize how much trouble you got me into? You basically sabotaged my chances of getting into G.U.N!"

To her shock, Rouge blew her off, replying, "Hey, it's not my problem. I did as I was told. I just trained you in ways G.U.N wouldn't think of."

"So you think you're totally in the clear about this?" Kitty inquired angrily.

"Of course I am." Rouge told her with a sly smirk. "After all, who are they going to believe, one of their best agents, or someone who's still at the bottom of the totem pole?"

"Why you…"

"Time to face facts, honey," Rouge replied firmly. "You didn't use your head when working with me. You should have use discretion during our training session."

As Kitty pondered this over, Rouge added, "Aw, don't feel too bad about it. I'm sure that lame T.U.F.F agency will take you back. But as for here, I'm afraid you're washed up."

Kitty then showed Rouge a sly grin and said, "I'm afraid you couldn't be more wrong about this, batty."

Rouge looked at her perplexed and replied, "Oh? You really think the Commander is going to let you back in after all you've done?"

"He will when he see this." Kitty retorted.

It was then Rouge figured out what she was talking about. Kitty immediately displayed a tape recorder in her right hand, making the female bat cringe.

"I thought you might try something again to get me into trouble." Kitty told her. "That's why I took the liberty to record our whole so called training mission tonight."

"You what…?"

"Looks like you've been outwitted this time, Rouge." Kitty retorted, while putting it in her bag.

Rouge then tried to take the bag from her, but Kitty immediately showed the female bat her claws on her left hand before she could, telling her firmly, "Make another move and I'll scratch you up good."

Seeing how sharp they were and how skilled she was a fighter, Rouge thought better of it. She then said, glaring at the feline, "All right, Catwoman, let's make a deal."

"Such as?" Kitty asked with arched eyebrows.

"If I agree to give you a passing grade for your test missions, you must agree to never show that tape to the Commander."

"And what if he asks about the museum robbery?" Kitty inquired.

"I don't think he will." Rouge replied. "After all, our faces were pretty much covered the whole time."

Kitty sighed heavily, but answered, "All right, I'll agree to this, but only on two conditions."

"Which is what?" Rouge asked.

"First, you take me on an actual training mission, starting tomorrow morning." Kitty replied. "I want to be able to have some authentic training added to my resume. Secondly, you return the gold mirror back where we found it."

Rouge hated Kitty's second condition, but said eventually after nodding her head, "All right, you got a deal, rookie."

The two of them then shook hands, with Rouge adding with another glare, "Today must not have been my lucky day for two morons to get the best of me."

"Well, maybe your crimes have finally caught up to you." Kitty retorted.

It was then Kitty saw Rouge eyeing her bag again. Kitty though shot her a warning glare, making the manipulating bat back off a second time, though not without silently protesting about it with her body language.

The following day, Rouge took Kitty to a field a mile away from the city for some target practice. Rouge set up five targets around the area and had Kitty use a shotgun from a distance to try and hit them directly in the middle.

To Rouge's shock, Kitty was a precise sharpshooter, hitting the middle eight of ten times.

"Not bad, rookie." Rouge commented. "Now let's really see what you can do."

Rouge then set up a skeet shooter she had brought from G.U.N HQ earlier that morning and loaded it up with discs. Thankfully, nobody from HQ had been able to figure out yet that she and Kitty had robbed the museum the previous night.

"All right, fire!"

Rouge immediately pressed the button, firing discs into the air. Kitty then pointed the gun into the air and fired shot after shot. Again, her accuracy was near perfect, hitting ten out of twelve.

"Impressive, now let's turn the heat even more." Rouge said with a smirk.

The female bat loaded the machine again, and this time pressed the button faster than before, trying to throw Kitty's timing off. But to her shock, Kitty's accuracy was still near perfect, almost duplicating her previous performance, hitting nine out of twelve.

Rouge then looked at Kitty and said with a low whistle, "You're a pretty good shot there, Catwoman. Where you'd learn to shoot like that?"

"T.U.F.F" Kitty replied with a smirk. "The same agency you think is for weaklings."

Rouge though turned her nose with a huff, saying, "Eh, you're just a rare exception in this case."

Kitty thought of retorting her last comment, but decided to keep her silence this time, as she would let her actions do the talking for her.

Ten seconds later, Rouge finally filled the silence, saying, "Anyway, I think you got what it takes to be a G.U.N, so I'll pass you."

"Glad to hear that." Kitty replied with a smirk.

"As long of course you keep your end of our deal." Rouge added, glaring at her. "I don't like the fact you got a recording over my head."

"Hey, you take advantage when the opportunity arises." Kitty retorted. "I just decided to do the same this time to protect my name from being stained."

Rouge then said with another huff, "Whatever. Let's get back to G.U.N. I'll go give them the report, and then you'll be officially an agent of theirs."

"Sounds good to me." Kitty answered with a grin. "Just remember, you do have to return the golden mirror."

"Yea, yea, I know." Rouge muttered. "I'll take care of it soon enough."

The two of them then began head back to Central City. But before they could take twenty steps, a huge explosion occurred within the city, causing the ground to shake. The shaking was violent enough; it almost knocked the two G.U.N agents off of their feet.

"What on earth was that?" Kitty pondered with shock.

Just then, both of them saw in the sky who was causing the ruckus.

"It's Eggman!" Rouge said loudly. "He's attacking Station Square!" 

Kitty looked on in horror, as Eggman had brought his Egg Carrier and was starting to damage buildings right and left with multiple laser shots and bullets.

"What in the world is he attacking for this time?" Rouge wondered out loud.

"Who cares about that?" Kitty replied, running towards the city. "Let's go get em!"

Rouge looked at her deeply perplexed, shouting, "What, are you crazy? He'll cut us up like Swiss cheese!"

"Are you a G.U.N agent, or not?" Kitty argued back after stopping. "And besides, I think it's time you earned your keep for them, if you know what I mean."

Rouge unfortunately did, making her groan loudly, replying, "Fine, I'll help you!"

The two gals then ran towards the city, with Rouge thinking to herself angrily as they did so, _I cannot believe how much leverage this showoff feline has over me! Well, if she thinks she can tell me what to do for much longer, she's gotta another thing coming!_


	7. Kitty vs Eggman

Meanwhile, Eggman continued to create total chaos within Station Square, as his weapons onboard his Egg Carrier soon caused several buildings to crumble to the ground in a heap of rubble.

Citizens in Station Square instantly began to frantically run for their lives, as lasers and bullets zinged around them like angry hornets. To make matters worse, some were even hit by them, making them fall to the ground seriously injured.

Moments later, Eggman launched a few missiles from one of his onboard weapons on the Egg Carrier. Within seconds, the missiles hit several more buildings squarely in the middle, soon obliterating them to big chunks of rock and metal. As an added bonus for the mad doctor, larges pieces landed on top of a few dozen citizens, killing them instantly.

"Yes, Yes!" he shouted, with his hands raised in the air victoriously. "More destruction! Make these vile worms squirm like the scum they are!"

Eggman now turned up the heat on the city, firing even more weapons upon them. He then thought to himself, _just a little more devastation, and it'll lure that meddlesome hedgehog out soon enough!_

Meanwhile, while this was going on, Kitty and Rouge returned to G.U.N, where they saw the soldiers loading up their weapons, preparing to counter Eggman's latest attack.

Rouge then said to Kitty, "I really don't think we need to intervene. G.U.N's got a lot of soldiers to handle this job for us."

Kitty though blew her off, saying, "I don't care if they do or not, I'm going after that mad man."

"You are one crazy feline." Rouge commented, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Just get me some weapons and prepare to leave." Kitty told her firmly.

Rouge again hated her sudden authority she had over her, but decided to comply to save her own hide. Kitty meanwhile looked at the left over inventory, which included several rocket launchers, an RPG-7, and a prototype looking weapon that seemed familiar to her.

"What's this?" Kitty asked Rouge.

Rouge shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Some kind of cutting laser machine gun thing. I don't know. I don't use these kind of weapons."

Kitty took a good look at the weapon and thought with a grin, Of course, this looks something similar to what Birdbrain used to attack me and Dudley.

Kitty then grabbed the prototype weapon, along with the RPG-7, grabbing about ten warheads and putting them inside her bag. She even saw a few magnetic bomb devices, grabbing two of them and placing them in her right pockets.

Kitty then noticed some suction cup looking devices with handles, intriguing her. Deciding they might come in handy, she added it to her left pockets.

After taking the recorder out of it and also placing it in her right pocket, she handed the bag to Rouge and said, "Here, carry this for me."

"What, why?"

"I can't carry the warheads and these two weapons at the same time." Kitty explained.

Rouge again groaned and said, "All right, fine."

Kitty then placed both weapons on her back, using a special strap around her shoulders to carry them. Rouge quickly commented with a frown afterwards, "You know, you're asking an awful lot of me for a rookie agent."

"Yea, well, there's a first time for everything I suppose." Kitty retorted with a grin. "Now let's move out!"

As Kitty began to run off, Rouge was tempted to desert her, but decided against it after realizing Kitty still had the recorder in her possession.

_The things I do to save my own hide!_

And with that thought, Rouge ran after her.

_When this is all said and done, this rookie agent's really going to get a piece of my mind!_

Back in the Egg Carrier, Eggman couldn't have been more elated, as his plans to devastate the city were unfolding before his very eyes.

After seeing more than a dozen building destroyed, the mad scientist made his move. He quickly got out a microphone and said over a loud speaker, "Attention citizens of Central City, I, Dr. Eggman, shall cease my attacks on your city under one condition." He then added with fierce anger, "BRING ME THE HEDGEHOG!"

As the remaining citizens gasped in horror, Eggman continued, "Once he's in my possession, I will leave your city at once. Do we have a deal?"

To Eggman's shock, as well as amusement, the citizens yelled back with one shouting, "Never! We'll never turn over our hero to scum like you!"

"Very well then." Eggman replied with a smirk. "You asked for it."

Eggman then continued his attacks, soon bringing several of his E-100 series robots into his control room. Once they were in front of him, he ordered them, "Go to the Thorndyke's residence and kill everyone inside and then destroy their home. I want that blasted hedgehog to have no place to rest any longer!

His E-100 series robots included E-100 Alpha, E-101 Beta, E-102 Gamma, E-103 Delta and E-104 Epsilon

"Aye, aye, sir." His robots answered him in a monotone voice. And with those words, they left to complete their task at once

After they left the room, Eggman rubbed his hand together and said with glee, "With them gone, Sonic won't have it so easy anymore. Heh heh!"

While this had been going on, G.U.N's soldiers finally arrived at the scene.

"All right men," One of the high ranking officers said with authority in his voice. "Destroy that aircraft at once!"

"Yes, sir!"

Instantly, G.U.N's units went to attack, as dozens of soldiers, fighter jets, choppers, even a few Gun Hawks headed towards the Egg Carrier, determined to obliterate it. Eggman meanwhile just scoffed at their latest attempt.

"Pathetic G.U.N soldiers." He muttered with a huff. "I guess my last thrashing wasn't enough for them to be intimidated by my military might."

As they got continued to get closer to the Egg Carrier, Eggman added with a grin, "Well, if they're so eager for another lesson in pain, I'll certainly be glad to give it to them!"

Seconds later, G.U.N launched their all-out attack, as they fired multiple lasers and bullets at the Egg Carrier. To G.U.N's surprise, but not to Eggman's, their weapons were very ineffective, as most of their attacks were repelled before they could even hit their targets. Nearly all the lasers and missiles were completely negated due to Eggman firing small rockets towards them, making it explode in mid air. As for the bullets, most of them did little to no damage, as Eggman's airship was bullet proof.

Soon, several minutes passed of G.U.N's forces trying to shoot down his Carrier. With very little to show for their efforts, Eggman said with a chuckle, "Ok, you had your chance, now it's my turn."

And with those words, Eggman put his attack into motion. With a push of a couple button from his control panel, the mad scientist unleashed his full wrath on G.U.N, as he fired multiple rockets, missiles, lasers, even bullets at them with no mercy.

Within seconds, G.U.N's forces began to take heavy casualties, as their jets, choppers and Hawks were blasted to bit upon impact. Some of the G.U.N soldiers in the air were able to eject before the missiles hit their aircrafts. But even then, Eggman was relentless. When he saw them softly parachuting to the ground, the mad doctor aimed his lasers to cut their parachutes to ribbons.

The G.U.N soldiers trying to escape to safety saw this and tried to evade, but it was to no avail. Eggman's machine guns ripped huge holes into their parachutes to pieces, causing them to scream to their demise within seconds, hitting the ground with a gruesome thud.

While this was going on, G.U.N Commander Abraham Tower soon was given a message by his secretary.

"Sir, I just got this fax." She replied, handing it him.

The G.U.N Commander soon read it, as it was from Eggman, demanding, "Your army is pathetic and unable to stop me. Stop trying to delay the inevitable and surrender to me, or else I will send a huge missile to G.U.N HQ, obliterating it to dust."

The G.U.N commander soon began to tremble inside, as he then turned on his T.V to how his forces were doing. To his horror, He saw many of his soldiers on the ground were being slain before his very eyes, as Eggman's bullets and lasers cut through their bodies like paper, killing them instantly.

Commander Abraham then turned off the T.V, now burying his head in his heads, saying with deep remorse "What have I done? I've sent my own men to fight just to be slaughtered."

The Commander soon composed himself and added, "But I just can't surrender to that vile mad man!" He quickly slammed his fist on the desk and shouted, "He must be stopped!"

However, Commander Tower knew deep down that was easier than done.

By now, nearly all of G.U.N's forces within the city were wiped out; making most of the remaining soldiers begin to retreat in fear. However, one soldier wouldn't back down, as he decided to fight to the very end. Heading towards a jet near the G.U.N base, he quickly boarded it and took off.

"I'll make that vile Eggman pay even if it costs me my life." The G.U.N solider muttered as he took off into the air.

Meanwhile, Eggman saw via his video screen that G.U.N's forces were retreating before him, making him chuckle, "I knew they'd be smart enough to back off eventually."

He quickly got in touch with the Commander after this via his video screen and said, "Are you ready to surrender to me?"

The Commander though began to show extreme hesitation, as he couldn't make himself do it. Eggman then added after he saw his hesitation, "You do realize, if you don't surrender this very minute, I will destroy your HQ, with you in it!"

The Commander even then struggled to answer, but eventually said, "All right, I'll…"

But before he could finish his statement, the Egg Carrier began to shake violently all over.

"What in blazes?'

Eggman then found out a lone G.U.N jet was attacking his aircraft from the rear, firing multiple missiles at it, destroying several of his weapons onboard. He quickly shouted to the Commander, pointing a finger at him on the screen "You wretched general! I should have known you'd try a sneak attack behind my back after making it look like your troops were retreating!"

"No, I had nothing to do with this." Commander Tower replied with fear in his voice. "Please don't take this out on me."

"Save your lies!" Eggman retorted. "Consider you, along with the rest of G.U.N forces history!"

Eggman then cut off the transmission. Moments later, the Commander began to panic inside, soon sweating profusely.

_I can't believe this! That renegade pilot is going to cost us all our very lives!_

Meanwhile, the lone G.U.N jet pilot continued his attack, destroying weapon after weapon onboard Eggman's Carrier, using more missiles, and laser blasts.

Eggman on the other hand had enough of this, as he soon pointed all his remaining onboard weapons to blast him out of the sky.

"Let's see this hotshot try to avoid this!" Eggman boasted arrogantly.

With another push of a couple of buttons, Eggman launched dozens of rockets and fired many bullets at the lone G.U.N pilot, determined to shoot him down. At first, the G.U.N pilot was able to evade due to being a top notch pilot, using barrel rolls, loops, even moving from left to right to keep himself in one piece. Unfortunately though, Eggman soon turned up the heat on the G.U.N pilot, as he made it so he could not avoid every attack that came towards him. Within twelve seconds, Eggman pinned the pilot into a corner, as he fired rockets from the left side, and then unleashed dozens of bullets from the right when he evaded in that direction. As Eggman had planned, the G.U.N pilot was unable to evade it this time. Bullets quickly tore the bottom part of the right wing like tinfoil, making the right jet engine erupt into flames.

The G.U.N pilot immediately began to panic inside, as he tried to keep his jet steady. But unfortunately for him, Eggman took full advantage of his predicament, firing three rockets simultaneously in a V formation. The G.U.N pilot tried to evade the attacks by moving to the left, but with a heavily damaged engine and wing, he was unable to maneuver fast enough to evade. Within seconds, all three rockets made contact with the jet, causing it to explode violently into many pieces upon impact.

The G.U.N pilot fortunately though pressed the eject button one second before the explosion, soon parachuting to land on part of the Egg Carrier below. But as he was doing so, Eggman caught him off guard, as he was grabbed abruptly by a mechanical arm. Eggman was now piloting his Egg Dragoon, grinning evilly at the G.U.N pilot.

"I gotta say, you were pretty bold, coming after my Egg Carrier alone. I seriously underestimated your abilities."

As the pilot struggled to get free, Eggman added, "Nonetheless, your so called valiant efforts were in vain. I shall soon eradicate every last one of your comrades and turn this city in a burning wasteland. Then, maybe your pathetic group will learn once and for all, who's in charge around here."

The G.U.N pilot then said to him while struggling, "Even if you destroy G.U.N, you'll still have to deal with Sonic."

To the pilot's surprise, Eggman heartily laughed at him. "You don't seem to get it, do you? By destroying this city and taking Sonic's comfort zone away from him, he'll soon be forced to look for another place to live. But he'll never get the chance, as I'll hunt him down until he's physically exhausted. Once that happens, I'll finally be rid of him, once and for all!"

Eggman again laughed at the trapped pilot, adding, "But anyway, first things first. I'm going to crush you like a grape with this mechanical hand. Ta ta!"

Eggman then pressed a couple of buttons to tighten the metal hand around the pilot. Since he wanted to see him suffer, he decided to slowly increase the pressure. Within seconds, the pilot was beginning to feel the effects, as his face was beginning to turn blue from a lack of air.

"Yes, it'll all be over soon." Eggman grinned at him.

But Eggman's plans were abruptly interrupted. Out of nowhere, a RPG-7 warhead came flying in, hitting the right shoulder of the metal arm that was holding the pilot, blasting it off upon impact. The metal arm instantly quickly hit the ground, now sparking heavily.

"What in the …?"

Eggman turned around, and there he saw Kitty standing nearby, with the weapon in hand, looking at him with a fierce glare. She had been able gotten up there thanks to Rouge flying towards the Carrier and landing on top of it.

"Hey, Doc, get ready, cause your plans about to go up in smoke!" she declared.

Eggman shot a death glare of his own at her, retorting, "So, another G.U.N agent dares to interfere with my plans? Well then, I'll be glad to make you pay the ultimate price!"

"Don't bet on it, Eggman!" Kitty shot back. "This time, you're going down!"

Eggman was incensed at her words, soon turning his Egg Dragoon around to face the feline agent.

"You talk big, but let's see you back it up, Catgirl!" Eggman shouted at her.

And with those words, the battle was on.

While Kitty kept Eggman preoccupied, Rouge came running in to the broken metal arm, using a screw kick near the mechanical hand, causing it to break into many pieces, weakening the grip of the metal hand in the process. Rouge had placed Kitty's bag aside with the warheads inside of it to keep them from exploding when she did this. With the pilot now able to get out of the mechanical hand, he then stood up and said to the female bat relieved after brushing himself off, "Thanks for the help."

"Don't thank me. This wasn't my idea." Rouge replied with a frown. "Anyway, you'd better get out of here and let us handle this."

The G.U.N pilot quickly nodded his head, as he ran off to safety.

Back on the other side, the battle between Kitty and Eggman began to heat up. With only mechanical arm left, Eggman still was determined to obliterate her to pieces.

"All right, let's see how good of a G.U.N agent you really are!" Eggman challenged her.

He then pressed a few buttons, causing the left mechanical arm to display a large drill. Within seconds, he lunged it at her, trying to grind her into the ground. Kitty though was too fast for it, using a back flip to evade the attack. As a result of missing his target, Eggman's drill was temporarily stuck in the floor. While he tried to get it out, Kitty soon landed on her feet and then pulled out her laser powered prototype machine gun, firing dozens of rounds at the Egg Dragoon's left arm. To Kitty's surprise, the weapon did very little damage, as its metal structure basically just repelled them.

Seconds later, Eggman finally got his drill out of the ground and declared boldly to her, "Ha! Your puny laser weapon is useless against my super machine!"

_Crap! That just made my job a lot harder!_ Kitty thought angrily to herself.

Eggman then activated the hover engine within his Egg Dragoon and chased after her. Kitty saw this and immediately ran from it. With no weapon on hand to fight back, she knew better than to just stay still and keep firing.

As Eggman drew closer to her in his pursuit, he again attempted to use his drill to try and annihilate Kitty to bits. But again, Kitty was able to evade, as she looked over her shoulder seconds before it came towards her. The feline agent dove out of the way to the right, just barely missed getting hit.

Eggman then turned around his machine quickly, as his drill didn't get stuck in the process this time. Kitty decided to change tactics, as she knew she couldn't damage its outer shell so easily.

"Give it up, feline!" Eggman told her. "A female like yourself is only to get hurt the longer you stay around."

Kitty though wouldn't back down, even using his words as incentive. She then ran towards his Egg Dragoon at full speed, completely amusing Eggman.

_She really is a sucker for punishment. Well, I'll be glad to give it to her._

Seconds later, Eggman unleashed his next attack, as he used a sideways swing to unleash a large wave of energy on the ground to severely electrocute the feline. Kitty again was one step ahead of him, and she lunged high into the air, somersaulting over the attack. While in mid air, Kitty then landed on the right shoulder of the Egg Dragoon and went for the kill, unleashing dozens of rapid fire laser shots at Eggman's glass cockpit. But to her horror, Eggman was one step ahead of her this time, as the Plexiglas around cockpit also was able to repel lasers with ease.

Kitty by now was dumbfounded inside. Her laser power prototype machine gun was completely useless against the Egg Dragoon. To make matters worse, she had no RPG-7's on hand since Rouge had them with her.

Eggman then took advantage of her bewildered look, as he violently smacked her aside with his metal arm. Kitty was sent flying into a nearby wall, with her back taking the brunt of the impact, eventually slumping to the ground in a serious daze.

"Pathetic, G.U.N Agent!" Eggman declared. "Did you really think you could do battle with me and live?"

Kitty didn't answer him, as she was groaning in pain as well.

"I've toyed with you long enough." Eggman said with a frown. "Prepare to die!"

Eggman instantly went for the kill, as he lunged his drill at Kitty yet again. However, his attempts to finish off the feline agent were halted. Out of nowhere, Rouge came flying out of nowhere, using a screw kick to hit the middle part of the Egg Dragoon to knock it backwards, putting a large hole in its structure in the process.

"What in the…?"

To Eggman's shock, he saw his machine was severely damaged by her attack, as it began to heavily spark in the process. When he saw Rouge, the mad scientist growled angrily at her and said, "I should have known you're not loyal to anyone, not even me."

"Sorry, doctor." Rouge retorted. "But your criteria don't meet with mine this time."

"Very well then." Eggman said angrily. "Then I'll just take you out too!"

But Eggman couldn't have been more wrong this time. Due to his machine being heavily damaged, he soon found it was very unresponsive to his commands. Rouge immediately took advantage of this, as she flew up towards his cockpit, landing on the left shoulder of the machine and using her right foot to cut a big hole in the Plexiglas covering.

Eggman looked on with deep concern after she did this, with Rouge adding with a grin while waving, "Say goodbye, Eggman."

"And just what do you think you're going to do?" Eggman dared, trying to keep his composure.

"Oh, it's not what I'm going to do, but it's what she's going to do." Rouge retorted, pointing to Kitty. As it turned out, Rouge had tossed a warhead to her before flying up to the Egg Dragoon.

Eggman looked back at her, as she now had an RPG-7 loaded in her weapon. Eggman then freaked out, shouting, "Oh, shoot!"

Kitty immediately fired, this time, aiming for the hole Rouge had made earlier. Eggman instantly pressed all the buttons he could to get out of this mess. Rouge on the other just flew up out of harms way, as the warhead came towards the Egg Dragoon.

Within seconds, the RPG-7 warhead hit Eggman's machine directly in the hole Rouge had made earlier, causing it to explode violently, with smoke billowing and metal pieces flying everywhere.

Kitty had to duck in order to keep from getting hit by the debris that came her way. As the smoke began to die down, Rouge flew towards her and commenting, "Nice shot there, Catwoman."

Kitty gave her a half hearted smile, saying, "Thanks."

Rouge then turned around and asked, "You think you got him?"

"I don't know, I can't tell with so much smoke around." Kitty replied. She soon added, "Thanks for bailing me out of a jam."

"Eh, I figure I owe you after our little deal." Rouge muttered.

"You know, you could have left me to get killed and that would have been the end of your troubles concerning me." Kitty commented inadvertently.

Rouge began to be in deep thought, as she replied, "I didn't think of that."

Kitty didn't like the way she answered her comment, making her wonder if she just gave the manipulating bat a bad idea.

Just then, Eggman came flying in his Egg Mobile, shouting with rage, "its payback time, ladies!"

Kitty and Rouge both looked on in deep shock.

"How in the world did you survive that?" Kitty asked astonished.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Eggman retorted. "But I'm done talking with you troublemakers. Now, you're going to face the full wrath of my onboard Egg Carrier weapons!"

Kitty looked on puzzled as he flew off. She then asked Rouge, "What was he talking about?"

But unfortunately for Kitty, she soon found out, as Eggman soon programmed every onboard weapon to aim for both her and Rouge.

Rouge then looked at Kitty and said firmly as the weapons were being positioned in place, "I hope you're fast as well as smart, Catwoman."

"Uh, why is that?" Kitty asked deeply concerned.

Seconds later, Rouge tackled Kitty to the ground out of harm's way behind a wall, as multiple bullets came flying towards them in rapid succession.

"That's why!" Rouge shouted, pointing at the mounted on machine guns around them.

Kitty immediately got up and soon saw this was going to be very difficult challenge to overcome. She soon commented to Rouge, "We're going to have to work together to get rid of these things."

Rouge was tempted to bail out on her, but decided to stay along in the slight case Kitty did survive this and used that tape against her. So, she replied to Kitty, "All right, let's get busy."

The two gals then joined hands, with Rouge adding, "Just remember, I'm not going to be able to save your hide every time you need it."

"You just worry about yourself." Kitty retorted, getting her one of her weapons in hand "I'm more than able to take care of myself."

"Just like you did with Eggman earlier?" Rouge ribbed.

"Hey, he caught me off guard!" Kitty shot back. "How was I supposed to know…"

Without warning, more bullets came flying in towards the two G.U.N agents, almost hitting both of them.

"We don't have time to argue." Rouge told her. "We'll be cut to ribbons if we keep this up."

Kitty knew she was right, so they decided to move out on the spot. Deciding to confuse Eggman's weapons, both of them ran into the opposite direction in a brilliant strategic move.

Eggman meanwhile was back in his control room, saying with a sneer, "I'd like to see those two meddlesome agents get out of this mess! They won't stand a chance against all my machine guns at once!"

To Eggman's shock though, he would soon find out neither would go down quietly.

Kitty ran to the left of the Egg Carrier while Rouge took the right. Without anymore RPG-7's on hand due to Rouge carrying them at the moment, Kitty was forced to use the prototype laser machine gun instead.

"Ok, here's goes nothing." Kitty said while running.

The mounted machine guns soon spotted her as she headed out into the open and opened fire. Being fast and agile, Kitty was able to evade the oncoming fire for the time being, even having to jump and somersault around at times to keep from getting hit. Unfortunately for her though, she had no time to shoot back due to so many bullets coming at her in rapid succession. It soon came to a point where several machines gun cornered the feline agent against a wall.

Seeing three machine guns pointed at her, Kitty thought fast, jumping high into the air to avoid getting hit. In the process, a big piece of the metal wall were blown off from the bullets. Once Kitty landed on the ground, the machine again targeted her and opened fire. Again, she thought fast and grabbed the large, thick piece of metal and used it to block the bullets. To her amazement and a bit of shock, the bullets were repelled by it. As it turned out, that large piece of metal blown off was the covering to part of the electrical system of the Egg Carrier.

_Of course! Eggman made his own ship's metal bullet proof. That's why G.U.N's army was hardly able to damage his Egg Carrier._

Kitty then knew what to do. While more bullets came at her, Kitty grabbed something from her pocket she had swiped from G.U.N's base earlier.

_I had a feeling this might come in handy._

Kitty took one of the handles with super suction cups on the bottom of it and quickly, but carefully attached it to the back of the metal she was using for her protection. Once it was sealed on tight, Kitty now had confidence to fight back.

_Oh yea, now it's on!_

Back on the other side, Rouge used her flying ability to evade most of the oncoming bullets that fired at her. Since she was carrying Kitty's RPG-7's, she had to attack methodically.

_I wish that annoying catgirl wouldn't have given these warheads this for me to carry!_ Rouge thought to herself with a frown. _These things are too combustible if I attack with them!_

Rouge though was able to adjust. Seeing a place to lay the bag down on top of one of the Egg Carrier's roofs out of range of being hit by any bullets, she laid it there and then got to work.

_Time to give these machines a good thrashing!_

Using her fast agility and flying ability, Rouge destroyed Eggman's mounted machine guns one by one, using multiple screw kicks, even using her feet to cut several Eggman's gun barrels in two, rendering them useless. Within a minute, more than twelve had been taken out. However, Rouge soon found out the remaining weapons were starting to target her a bit faster than before.

_Looks like Eggman's trying to spice things up for me. Well, I'll be glad to meet his challenge._

With a customized shield now in hand, Kitty began to attack more aggressively than before. Running towards the mounted machine guns, the feline agent placed the metal shield in front of her as the bullets came at her again, blocking all their attacks. Once they stopped to adjust their aim, Kitty grabbed her prototype laser machine gun from behind her back and fired rapidly at them. Unlike Eggman's Dragoon, her weapon not only damaged the mounted machine guns, but eventually destroyed them within five to twelve shots. Seeing this psyched up her even more.

_Oh yea, Eggman's going down now!_

And with that thought, Kitty went all out on Eggman's weapons, destroying one after the other with timing and precision. Like Rouge, she soon destroyed more than fifteen machine guns within a minute.

Eggman by now was beside himself with rage. He soon banged his control panel again and again, shouting, "All right, that does it! No more Mr. nice scientist! If those two are going to play dirty with my machines, then I'll show them how it's really done!"

Eggman then left the room, preparing his next move.

Meanwhile, Kitty soon also found herself having a more difficult time destroying Eggman's mounted machine guns. As with Rouge, they too began to fire at her at a much faster pace.

_If that mad man thinks this is going to slow me down, he's got another thing coming to him!_

Undeterred by this new challenge, Kitty took it on at full speed.

Once Kitty got close enough, more than five machines guns fired at her simultaneously. Again thinking fast, she used her agility and martial arts prowess, as well as the shield to evade being hit. She then jumped into air as the bullets came towards her, somersaulting over them, using the shield to deflect any that came close to hitting her in the process.

After she landed, Kitty grabbed her weapon from behind her back and fired again, destroying three of them within ten seconds. When the remaining two opened fire a split second later, she again had to take evasive maneuvers, back flipping out of harm's way.

Using her fast agility yet again, Kitty finished them off before they could adjust their aim and shoot at her again.

Once they were taken out, Kitty blew the smoke off her gun and said with a grin, "So far so good. Now to…"

Kitty then turned around abruptly and heard a noise. As it turned out, there were still about eighteen left on her side. To make matters worse, there were now seven of them adjusting their aim to shoot her down.

_Crap! Guess I spoke too soon!_

Kitty tried to beat them to the punch, as she attempted to open fire before they could. But to her shock, the gun wouldn't fire. Kitty tried again and again, but it wouldn't respond.

_Why won't this gun…_

Kitty was unable to finish that sentence, as she saw the machine guns firing at her again in rapid succession. In a bind, she again had to bail out in a hurry, back flipping once more out of harm's way.

Once she was at a safe distance, Kitty looked her gun over and saw the problem. It was battery operated.

_Drat! It's out juice! Now what do I do?_

Again, Kitty didn't have long to think this over, as she unfortunately noticed she was within range of another five machine guns.

Not again!

Moments later, Kitty used her shield to protect her while running for cover. As she ran, she thought, _I knew I should have grabbed that second battery when I had the chance!_

To make matters worse, she had nothing other than the shield to fight back.

_I better get over to Rouge's side so she can help me out, pronto!_

Speaking of Rouge, she too found out the machine guns adjusting at a faster rate was no picnic for her either. Nonetheless, she rose to the challenge. The manipulating bat showed Eggman why was she was such a threat to him, as again, she took to it his weapons, destroying one after the other with speed and accuracy. Even with them being faster had little effect. Rouge was able to counter their speed by flying high into the air, and then dive bombing them with multiple screw kicks, as well cutting more of the noses off the mounted machine guns. Within a minute, over 85% of the machines guns on her side were now destroyed.

_Eggman's such a pushover!_ Rouge thought with a grin. _He must be not as smart as he claims to have such useless weapons._

Rouge was about to screw kick another machine gun to oblivion, when Kitty shouted, making the female bat turn around "There you are! I need your… Rouge, look out!"

"What do you think you're doing here?" Rouge demanded. "Don't you have a job to…"

Kitty then saw over five machines guns ready to cut Rouge full of holes. Thinking fast, she tackled Rouge to the ground a split second before the bullets fired, just barely missing getting hit.

"What's the big idea, Catgirl?" Rouge asked with a frown. "You really think I couldn't handle those things myself?"

"I was just saving you from getting shot!" Kitty shot back.

Rouge though didn't show much gratitude for her efforts, making Kitty feel like she saved her for nothing. Moments later, Kitty saw the machines guns changing direction, and aiming for them, making her shout, "Look out behind you!"

Rouge immediately turned her head and saw it herself, soon saying with a groan, "I guess I gotta save your feline hide yet again."

Kitty was about to protest, but wasn't able to, as Rouge grabbed her by the shoulders and took off for the air, again within a split second of getting hit. As she flew higher into the air, Kitty asked, "Where are you taking us?"

"Where else? To safety." Rouge replied a bit annoyed.

A couple of seconds later, Kitty then noticed something, "Hey, where's my bag?"

Rouge would have slapped her forehead if she could, but instead she replied, "Oh, how silly of me. I almost forgot all about it."

"What?" Kitty looked at Rouge sternly. "You forgot about the bag with the warheads?"

"Is that why you came running over to my side for help?" Rouge asked teasingly.

"I didn't need your help!" Kitty reiterated. "But you're the one carrying my warheads, remember?"

"Yea, don't remind me." Rouge muttered. "Hang on; I think I remember where I left them."

"You better." Kitty said firmly. "If Eggman gets a hold of them, we're in deep trouble."

"Relax, Catwoman," Rouge replied confidently. "I put them in a safe spot, out of his reach, for now anyway."

Kitty by now was getting really tired of that name, but decided not to make an issue of it, as there were more important matters at hand.

Ten seconds later, Rouge found the where she left the bag, saying to Kitty, "It's up head on that ledge."

"Well, hurry up and get us over there already." Kitty said impatient.

"That's easier said than done with you weighing so much." Rouge retorted.

"Are you implying that I'm fat?" Kitty demanded angrily.

"Look, can we just quit arguing for a change?" the female bat suggested annoyed. "We've got a battle on our hands now."

Kitty knew she was right, but was still a bit ticked off about her last comment.

Rouge then got within range of the roof where she left the bag and began to flap faster to get there sooner. But when Kitty was within ten feet of the bag, she saw something that shocked her. The bag was leaning over the edge, and on the verge of falling to the Egg Carrier's floor below.

"Hurry, Rouge!" Kitty shouted frantically.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Rouge shot back.

Unfortunately though, Rouge was unable to fly fast enough, as the bag fell off just as Kitty attempted to reach it with her right hand. Kitty responded frightfully, "No! We've got to retrieve that bag before it explodes!"

"I can't get to it now!" Rouge replied. "It's in the path of those machine guns."

"But if we don't get to them, that's it for my ammunition!" Kitty argued. "Our chances of winning will be a lot less."

Rouge unfortunately couldn't counter that argument of hers, as the female bat dive bombed to the spot below. As she did so, Rouge muttered, "I hope you got a plan to get us past those bullets from the machine guns."

Kitty got out her shield from behind her back and asked, "Will this do?" Kitty had to ditch her empty laser machine gun prototype in order to do so.

Just then, the machine guns A.I saw them coming and adjusted their aim. As they did, Kitty told Rouge, "Keep flying, I'll protect us from getting hit!"

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Rouge complied, though very reluctant.

Seconds later, the machine guns locked onto their targets, firing multiple bullets at them in rapid succession. But thanks to Kitty's smart thinking, her shield deflected any ammo that came at them, as she placed it front of them as they flew.

Once they got past the gunfire, Rouge said to Kitty, "We're not going to get the bag if we keep this up. I'm going to have let go of you in order to fly faster."

Kitty realized this was true, so she replied with a sigh, "All right then."

Since they were less forty feet from the ground, Kitty decided to bite the bullet, as she prepared to descend to the ground safely. Moments later, Rouge released Kitty from her arms and then flew towards the bag at a much faster speed. Kitty on the other hand aimed for the wall nearby, using her feet to slow her descent as planned.

Now being twice as fast, Rouge flew as fast she could, closing on the falling bag in a hurry. Rouge could sense this was going to be close, but gave it all she got anyway.

_Ok, here goes nothing!_

Less than fifteen feet from the ground, Rouge was now at top speed, quickly extending her right hand for the bag. In a last desperation move, she nabbed it just before it hit the ground and then flew up a bit, eventually landing to safely. Sighing a deep sigh of relief, Rouge turned around to see Kitty now sliding near the floor as well, shouting, "I got it!"

Kitty gave her a thumbs up for her efforts, but then gasped a second later, "Rouge, behind you!"

Rouge turned around, and there she saw the four mounted machine guns nearby aiming for her. Seeing them about to fire, Rouge was forced to take evasive action, as she flew up into the air to evade the oncoming gun fire. Kitty on the other hand was out of their range, now hiding behind the wall she had slid down. Just then, she got an idea.

"Rouge, toss me one of those war heads!"

"Now? Are you crazy?" the female bat demanded.

"Trust me on this!" Kitty answered.

With extreme reluctance on her face, Rouge did so, as she heaved one of them towards the feline agent, in spite of the fact there was multiple ammo flying around the two G.U.N agents. Thankfully, the warhead made it past any bullets that could have hit it, as Kitty grabbed the warhead firmly in her hand once it was within reach. She then loaded it in her RPG-7 and aimed for the mounted machine gun near Rouge. With one quick pull of the trigger, she fired it at several of Eggman's weapons, hitting her target with near perfect accuracy. The RPG-7 warhead exploded with intensity on contact, taking out not just one, but three of them in the process.

Metal debris quickly went flying everywhere with smoke soon billowing from the destroyed machine guns, Rouge looked them with amazement. She then flew down and commented, "Impressive work there, Catgirl."

Kitty this time smiled at her and said back, "Thanks. Now, what do you say we team up and take out the remaining weapons on the Egg Carrier?"

Rouge flashed a grin of her own and replied, "Sure, why not? After all, I gotta show you on how it's done."

"You're on!" Kitty said psyched up.

And with those words, the two G.U.N agents got to work. With Rouge using multiple screw kicks, as well as Kitty blasting machine guns with her warheads, the two of them began to annihilate the rest of Eggman's weapons with ease. Within two minutes, they had destroyed over 80% of the remaining mounted machine guns. Rouge even used a couple more swinging kicks that cut the noses off of several of them as well, rendering the weapons infective.

"Only five to go." Kitty told Rouge, now trying to catch her breath.

"You getting tired there, Catwoman?" Rouge asked teasingly

"Nope, I'm just getting warmed up." Kitty replied firmly. "Let's finish em off!"

Running on adrenaline now, Kitty ran towards the remaining five mounted machine guns. With only three warheads left in her possession, the feline agent was confident she could finish the job.

And she did. With Rouge as her partner, the two G.U.N agents destroyed the rest of Eggman's onboard weapons with ease, as Kitty fired another warhead at three of them, while Rouge went after the last two with a couple screw kicks.

Thirty seconds later, the job was complete. Kitty then said to Rouge with a deep sigh of relief, "Ok, get in touch with G.U.N and see if they got any jets left to deploy. Tell them we took out his anti aircraft guns."

Rouge nodded her head and did just that. Kitty on other hand walked around and checked to see if there were any mounted machine guns still operational. As she inspected each one, it was quickly determined that they were all out of commission.

Kitty then asked Rouge, "Any word from G.U.N?"

"Not yet." Rouge replied. "They're not picking up."

Kitty rubbed the back of hair, thinking, _that's odd. Did they really just abandon their base that quickly?_

Kitty then began to ponder this over, wondering what to do to next. Unfortunately for her, out of nowhere, a large shadow covered her, making her look up in shock. She instantly dove out of the way, as a large machine slammed the ground nearby, making it shake violently.

"What in the…?"

Kitty soon turned her head, and there she saw Eggman in another machine, now glaring at her murderously.

As Kitty tried to stand up, Eggman shouted, pointing a finger at her, "You troublemaking feline! How dare you humiliate me by wiping out my machine guns! Well, I'm done playing games! Now you're going to get crushed into dust like the filthy cat you are!"

Rouge during this time looked on in shock as well, as she too was surprised how fast Eggman arrived after his machine guns were destroyed.

Kitty however wouldn't back down, as she countered, "Why don't you take a hint and give it up already? We destroyed your first machine, so what makes you think your second will do any better?"

"I'm a fast learner, Catwoman!" Eggman retorted. "You can fool me once, but now I'm onto your tricks! You don't stand a chance against me this time!"

"Want to bet?" Kitty shot back. She then grabbed her RPG-7 from the ground nearby and loaded it with her second to last warhead from her bag. "These things will toast your so called machine!"

"Just try your luck, hotshot!" Eggman dared her. "You won't find me so easy to defeat this time around!"

Using his words as incentive, Kitty fired another warhead at Eggman's new machine. But to her shock and horror, his machine caught it with its right mechanical hand in mid air.

Eggman now laughed at her, saying with a taunt, "Did you really think I wasn't ready for that, Catwoman? There are only so many tricks you can use before I catch on!"

Kitty looked on with deep disbelief on her face, "No way. How on earth did that thing…"

Kitty had no time to finish that statement, as Eggman shouted towards her, "Now, try this!"

Eggman then tossed the warhead back at her, forcing Kitty to dive out of the way in order to keep from getting hit. To make matters worse, Eggman had tossed the warhead towards the city in case he missed. Kitty turned her head to see it hit a building, causing major damage to its metal structure.

Before Kitty could react to this, Eggman completely took her by surprise, as he grabbed her abruptly from behind with his machine's left mechanical hand and grasped the feline agent tightly inside of it.

Kitty struggled to get free, but Eggman said to her, "Don't bother, you won't climb outta this so easily!"

"Kitty!" Rouge shouted in shock. The female bat then tried to help her out, but was immediately halted in her tracks, as Eggman's machine pointed several machine guns at her with its right mechanical hand.

"Back off, Batgirl!" Eggman threatened. "Or I'll cut you to pieces!"

To Eggman's surprise, Rouge did as she was told; now trying to think of what to do next. Kitty on the hand was dumbfounded, as she yelled, "What are you waiting for? Use a screw kick to annihilate this thing!"

Rouge though didn't budge, as she continued to ponder this over. _Do I really want to help this Catgirl out after the fact she's threatening to turn me in?_

Kitty couldn't believe the hesitation on Rouge's part. But unfortunately for her, she had no time to worry about that now, as Eggman tightened the hand around and said to her with a sneer on his face, "Looks like your so called partner is having second thoughts about helping you out! That's really too bad for you!"

Kitty then saw Rouge do the unthinkable, as she turned away and flew off.

"Where do you think you're going?" Kitty demanded. "Are you just going to turn your back on me after everything?"

Rouge then replied to her while turning around, "Sorry, Kitty, but my job with G.U.N means too much to me to lose. I can't have you ratting me out with your goody-goody methods. So long."

As Rouge took off for the sky, Kitty shouted at her, "You traitorous bat! You're a complete disgrace to all Mobians!"

To her surprise, Rouge didn't answer back. To make matters worse, Eggman grasped her even tighter, saying with a sly grin, "So much for your bat friend, feline. Now that she's abandoned you, you're all mine!"

Kitty though remained composed inside, even when Eggman laughed heartily in her face, saying, "Time to say goodbye, troublemaker!"

Eggman then went to press the controls to crush her tightly. But out of the blue, Kitty managed to get her right arm free and placed a magnetic device on it arm a few feet away.

"What the…?"

Within seconds, the device exploded intensely, as it was a magnetic bomb that exploded a few seconds after contact with metal. The explosion was large enough; it seriously damaged its metal arm to the point of sparking, as its hand abruptly dropped Kitty in the process, where she soon landed safely on the ground.

"Why you little…"

Kitty quickly got back on her feet and retrieved her RPG-7 nearby, saying seething, while pointing it at him "You really must be dumber than you look to underestimate me that easily, Doctor!"

By now, Eggman's patience was gone, as he growled at her, demanding while pointing a finger towards Kitty, "Just who are you anyway? How are you able to go toe to toe with me this long and survive?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kitty retorted. "The only thing I'm telling you that I'm taking you down, one way or the other!"

"Ha! Fat chance, feline!" Eggman shot back. "You've just been lucky so far, but your luck will soon run out if I have anything to say about it!"

"Make your move, doc!" Kitty dared. "Let's see just how good YOU really are!"

"Very well, you've asked for it!" Eggman roared.

Eggman then pressed a few buttons to aim his machine guns on its right mechanical hand and prepared to fire. Kitty though saw him doing this and was ready with a counter measure, as she pointed her weapon at the middle of his machine, preparing to fire before he could.

Unfortunately for the feline agent, her weapon wouldn't fire, as she pressed the trigger, but it jammed up.

_What, No! This can't be happening!_

Kitty tried to press the trigger again and again, but with the same results. Eggman then laughed at her predicament, saying, "Too bad for you, now it's my turn."

Kitty turned her head, and there she saw Eggman with his finger on the button to fire.

_Oh shoot! This isn't good!_

Within a split second, Eggman unleashed a barrage of bullets at Kitty. Since her shield was behind her back, she didn't have time to get it out. Instead, Kitty back flipped several times in order to evade getting hit by the gunfire. As she did this, Eggman was deeply amused by her desperation attempts. "You can hop around all you want; feline, but you're not getting away from me that easily!

Once Kitty back flipped enough to be out of range, she stopped by one of the nearby walls of the Egg Carrier's and went to get her shield. Unfortunately for her, Eggman caught her by surprise, as he lunged his Interceptor towards her and slammed his machine nearby on the Egg Carrier's surface, knocking her off balance, as she fell to the ground on her chest.

"Knock, knock, G.U.N agent!" Eggman taunted. "Thought you could escape from my clutches?"

Kitty though got back on her feet and grabbed her shield to defend herself. Unfortunately for her, Eggman swung his right mechanical arm of his Interceptor hard, knocking it out of her hands, as it went flying out of range thirty feet to the west.

Kitty looked on in shock, as Eggman chuckled again with a taunt, "Aw, do you not have anymore protection against my weapons? That's really too bad."

To Eggman's surprise, she didn't show any sign of surrender in her body language, as she grabbed her RPG-7 nearby and pointed it at him again.

"Oh brother, that again?"

Eggman again quickly smacked the weapon out of her hands, as it too went flying out of reach. Kitty then gasped as Eggman told her firmly, "Enough of hiding behind those little toys of yours! You think you can beat me? Then let's see you do it with your bare hands!

By now, Kitty was beginning to panic inside, but still wouldn't back down, as she retorted, "Very well, Doctor. I'll show you I can still take you down!"

Eggman laughed heartily at her response, retorting, "You just don't know when to give up, do you?" When he saw she was serious about her statement, he added, "Very well then. Show me what you got!"

Kitty then realized she only had one chance to get towards him, so she prepared to lunge at him.

"Now, get a load of this!" Eggman shouted.

And with those words, his machine guns on both mechanical hands opened fire. Kitty then ran towards the fire, as she prepared her next move. Once she was close enough, Kitty did a few frontal flips to evade the bullets and then leaped high into the air, as she soared over the ammunition, landing on top of the right hand of Eggman's machine. Eggman looked on in shock, as he had tried to adjust his aim to hit her that whole time, but was unable to do so.

"Very clever, feline!" Eggman roared. "But I'm not out of tricks yet!"

Eggman then tried to swing his left mechanical hand to smack her aside, in spite of the damage to its interior. But to his disbelief, Kitty evaded every attempt, as she soon jumped up towards his cockpit before they could strike; now standing on the right shoulder of his Interceptor.

Kitty then looked at Eggman with a fierce glare and said while showing her claws to him "Now to open your little bubble."

Eggman saw she was dead serious, as he desperately began to swing the both mechanical arms at her this time, trying hard to smack the G.U.N agent off his machine. But again, Kitty outsmarted him, as she soon stood in front of his cockpit, daring the arms to swing at her. When they did, Eggman immediately figured out what she was doing, as he tried to make the hands stop before they could strike. But it was too little too late, as Eggman only slowed them down enough to the point they were still broke part of the canopy around his cockpit, putting a big hole in the front of it. Glass shards even flew inside, almost hitting the mad scientist in the process.

Seeing her chance to finish him off, Kitty declared to Eggman, while showing her claws again, "Now it's time for you to get a load of this!"

Eggman instantly began to panic inside, as he knew what she was capable of doing. In a last desperation move, he grabbed her right arm firmly as she tried to slash him with her claws. Kitty even tried to slash him with her left hand after a few seconds, but Eggman managed to block it, as he grabbed it with his left hand as well. What ensued from that moment on was a back and forth struggle, as both tried to get the advantage.

However, as time went on, it became apparent this was a stalemate, as both sides didn't budge. Twenty five seconds soon passed, with neither side gaining an edge.

"Just quit struggling and accept the fact you're finished!" Kitty told him firmly.

"NEVER!" Eggman shouted back. "I'll never surrender to your filthy kind!"

Hearing that statement angered Kitty, as she tried even harder to take him down. But again, Eggman fought desperately to keep her claws off of him. It soon got to the point that the mad scientist knew he had to try something else to win. In one last desperation move, Eggman briefly let go of Kitty's right arm with his right hand and then poked her hard in the eye with it.

Kitty instantly flinched in pain, as she rubbed her eye, saying, "Ow! Why you low down…"

Kitty then went to scratch him up good in retaliation, but Eggman unfortunately this time had beaten her to the punch, as he swung his right mechanical arm of his Interceptor at her at full speed. In one swift swing, Kitty was smacked off the machine hard, as she was sent flying, crashing into a nearby wall, this time face first.

Kitty slowly slumped to the floor, nearly knocked out from the impact. As she groaned in pain from the collision, Eggman grabbed her firmly with his Interceptor again, this time in his left mechanical arm, as he was able to get it working well enough to do so.

Kitty now groaned even louder in pain, as getting grabbed abruptly by his machine hurt even more than before. Eggman then told her with a chuckle, "And so it ends. I must admit you were a worthy opponent, but like all your pathetic G.U.N comrades, you came up short."

By this time, Kitty nearly lost all the fight in her, as she was battling just to stay conscious now.

Seeing this, Eggman decided to go for the kill, as he said, "Prepare to die, feline! This is it for you!"

Eggman then raised the right arm of his Interceptor high and placed it above Kitty, preparing to crush her with one swing. Kitty though could barely see it, as her eyes began to get heavy from her previous injuries.

At that moment, Eggman went to swing the right arm of his machine to crush her into oblivion.

But out of nowhere, a blue blur streak came flying in, crashing head on into his Interceptor hard from the middle section, knocking it backwards to the ground on its back.

"What the…?"

In the process, Kitty was dropped, as the collision opened the left mechanical hand again, where she soon fell to the ground below in a heap.

Eggman meanwhile righted his machine upright and said, "All right, show yourself, rodent!"

The mad scientist got his wish, as the blue blur was revealed to be none other than Sonic himself.

"Hey, Eggbelly, long time no see." Sonic greeted.

"So, you finally showed up." Eggman commented. "I was beginning to wonder what was taking you so long."

Sorry to keep you waiting, but I had important business to take care of in the Mystic Ruins." Sonic replied.

"Oh, really?" Eggman knew what he was implying, but responded instead, "Well then, when I'm done frying your blue hide, I'm going to find your little treasure afterwards and take it for myself."

"In your dreams." Sonic retorted.

Kitty meanwhile looked up while on the ground and looked at them as they trash talked each other, though was barely conscious, as she couldn't see who had saved her very clearly due to her vision being blurry for the time being.

Sonic then got serious, as he frowned at Eggman said firmly to him while pointing a finger in his face, "You've caused enough trouble here, Robotnik! Now I'm going to put you out of commission for good this time!"

"Oh yea? I'd like to see you try it, warthog!" Eggman dared him.

Sonic then got into his fighting position, as he replied loudly, "With pleasure!"

And with those words, the battle was on.

As Sonic began to rev up his legs to take off, Eggman activated the machine guns on both of the mechanical hands, shouting after pointing them at him, "Eat this, rodent!"

"First you gotta catch me, Slowmo!" Sonic retorted.

Sonic then blasted off a split second before he fired, eluding all of the Eggman's Interceptor bullets.

"You won't get away that easy, Sonic!" Eggman shouted at him angrily.

Eggman instantly gave chase, as he activated the legs on his Interceptor and ran after his foe as fast as he could. Not surprisingly, Sonic was able to outpace his machine with ease. That's not to say Eggman didn't give his all. The mad scientist then unleashed his weapons with full fury, firing dozens of more bullets at Sonic.

While this was going on, Kitty struggled to get back on her feet. Battered and bruised, the feline nonetheless wouldn't quit. As she tried to stand, Kitty saw Eggman chasing Sonic all over the Egg Carrier on the right side of it. Every weapon Eggman fired at him, the blue hedgehog evaded it with ease thanks to his high agility.

_Who is that speedy blue dude anyway?_ Kitty thought to herself. _Is he friend or foe?_

Since he had saved her life, even it looked inadvertently, Kitty vowed on the spot to help him out. She then looked for her RPG-7, but didn't see it anywhere. But in spite of this, she went to look for it, though not very quickly, as her legs couldn't move that fast after all the abuse she had taken.

Meanwhile, Sonic was soon getting tired of toying with Eggman and decided to dish out some punishment of his own. He soon stopped in the middle of the Egg Carrier, quickly turning around, and gave Eggman a waving hand gesture, daring him to attack.

Eggman growled at her taunt with rage, as he again fired dozens of bullets at his foe. This time though, Sonic ran towards him, zigzagging around the ammunition. When he was close enough, he jumped high into the air, quickly spinning into a ball and using a homing attack to hit his Interceptor directly in the middle. Eggman's machine was again knocked backwards to the ground, flat on its metal back.

Eggman though righted his machine in a hurry, now losing all his patience with the blue hedgehog.

"I'd like to see you try that again, blue boy!" Eggman challenged. "You won't get so lucky this time around!"

"You mean like the last two?" Sonic retorted.

"Shut up and fight me already!" Eggman shot back.

"Ok, you asked for it, Eggy!" Sonic said, revving up his legs again.

Eggman then aimed his machine guns once more at Sonic, firing bullets at him with full fury. But again, the blue hedgehog would take it to the mad doctor, quickly going in circles around Eggman to confuse him.

"Hold still, you pest!" Eggman roared, trying to aim his weapons at him correctly.

Sonic though wouldn't let off. Instead, he turned it up, now running even faster around the Interceptor. He was going so fast, Eggman was starting to get very dizzy inside, even to the point of being nauseous.

Sonic soon saw his opportunity to strike and went for it, charging a spin dash attack to full power, attacking Eggman's machine with a light speed dash with full force. Within a second, Sonic hit the Interceptor with everything he had, sending it high into the air upon impact, where it quickly plummeted onto the Egg Carrier's surface below, crashing violently.

Smoke and sparks soon began to show from the Interceptor, making Sonic think Eggman was down for the count. He dusted his hands with glee, saying, "Easy as cake."

Sonic then looked around, pondering to himself, "Now where'd that feline agent go? I haven't seen her around after I saved her from Eggman."

10 seconds soon passed, with no sign of her around. So, Sonic shrugged his shoulders, commenting, "Eh, maybe she went back to G.U.N."

Sonic quickly got out a radio afterwards and was about to call Tails to pick him up, as he got onboard the Egg Carrier thanks to the two tailed fox. But unfortunately for the blue hedgehog, he was abruptly grabbed from behind by a metal hand, this time the right one.

To his shock, Sonic at that moment realized the Interceptor was still functioning, though on the verge of breaking down, as it was now heavily smoking.

As the blue hedgehog struggled to get free, Eggman said to him with a hearty laugh, "You are one egotistical rodent! Did you actually think I was done for that quickly?"

Sonic though didn't respond, as he still tried to get free from the Interceptor's clutches. Eggman then added, "Next time, don't count your chickens before they're hatched! Oh wait; there won't be a next time, because I'm taking you out for good, right here, right now!"

To Sonic's horror, he saw Eggman pointing the left hand of his Interceptor directly at him, ready to fire another barrage of bullets from his machine gun.

"This time, I'm going to cut you up like Swiss cheese!" Eggman cackled. "Or should I say, Swiss Rodent!"

Eggman then went to press the button, but again, he was interrupted. Out of nowhere, an RPG-7 warhead hit Eggman's Interceptor directly on its right shoulder, resulting in a huge explosion, blasting off the metal arm, as well causing the blue hedgehog to be sent flying out its right mechanical hand from the attack. Sonic immediately hit the ground within seconds, landing abruptly on his chest, but was only knocked senseless from the blast.

Eggman by this point was beside himself, as he saw his machine was on the verge of self destructing. With no choice, Eggman hit the eject button, evacuating to his Egg Mobile yet again. Seconds later, his Interceptor exploded intensely, spreading metal debris everywhere, with smoke soon billowing from the remains afterwards.

It was at that moment Eggman saw who had done it, none other than Kitty herself. Completely enraged, Eggman went to finish her off, as she was still very weak from their previous encounter.

But again, Eggman would receive interference, as he looked to his left and saw the X-Tornado looming about, ready to strike if necessary.

Realizing he couldn't beat them, Eggman instantly retreated. But before he did, he pointed a finger at Kitty, yelling with fury, "You got lucky this time, feline! But the next time we meet, you're mine!"

And with those words, he flew back to his base in huff.

After he left and was out of sight, Kitty then dropped her weapon onto the ground and got down on one knee, as holding the RPG-7 had weakened her some to the point that she could barely stand up.

_Man, that was a close one!_ Kitty thought to herself. _No wonder this city is so afraid of that mad man. He is indeed the real deal._

Kitty then looked around and pondered her next move. But unfortunately, she soon noticed the ground was moving underneath her.

_What in the…?_

As it turned out, all the battles and explosions within the Egg Carrier damaged its interior to the point it was now losing altitude.

_Oh great, just what I need!_

Kitty instantly began to look around for a place to escape, but that turned out to be very tricky, as all she saw around her was buildings, and most of them were heavily damaged.

_How in the world am I going to…._

Kitty had no time to finish that thought, as out of nowhere, she was abruptly grabbed by Sonic, now firmly in his arms.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Kitty demanded a bit startled.

Sonic though ignored her, as he whistled towards Tails in the X-Tornado above him, waving for two tailed fox to fly closer so he could jump onboard.

"I demand to know what you're doing this instant!" Kitty protested louder. "This is very rude and inconsiderate!"

"Boy, aren't you a grateful one?" Sonic muttered to her. "I'm saving your life, Miss. What's it look like?"

"Well you could have at least told me ahead of time." Kitty shot back.

"But again, Sonic turned a deaf to her, making the feline agent groan with disgust.

_This guy must think he's some hotshot hero to grab me like I'm a weak damsel in distress._

While Kitty didn't hate him helping her, she felt demeaned by the way he did it.

Seconds later, the X-Tornado was now flying close enough by for Sonic's taste, as he instantly jumped on top of it, making Kitty scream with fear as he did so.

"Are you some kind of crazy nut?" She demanded while in mid air.

"Nope, just a guy who loves adventure." He replied with a grin after landing on top of the X-Tornado.

Since Tails had slowed down the X-Tornado's speed to a crawl, Sonic was able to jump on it with ease.

Moments later, both of them heard the collision, turning their heads to see the Egg Carrier crash violently into a few of the remaining buildings with fury. Within seconds, Eggman's fleet exploded with intensity, as smoke and fire quickly bellowed from his now destroyed carrier.

Sonic could only shake his head with deep sadness, as he realized this was destruction was partly his fault. Even Kitty couldn't look at the carnage without a lump in her throat.

Ten seconds later, he eventually let go of Kitty, as she soon was standing atop of the X-Tornado as well.

"All right, let's get going. Hop inside." Sonic told her, after opening the canopy.

Kitty thought of arguing with him further, but decided to comply. Before she got in though, she said to him sheepishly, as not wanting to seem rude for his help, "Uh, thanks for saving my life earlier by the way. I guess owe you one."

Sonic gave a faint smile, replying, "Think nothing of it, Miss. It's what I do."

"Call me Kitty." She told him softly. "There's no need to be formal with me."

"Ok, if you say so, Kitty. You can call me Sonic."

Kitty then hopped inside, hearing Tails immediately say to her as she soon sat in her seat and fastened her seatbelt, "Welcome aboard, Kitty. Next stop, home."

And with those words, Tails accelerated the X-Tornado to near full speed.

Moments later, Kitty noticed Sonic wasn't inside of it, making her ask, "Uh, shouldn't he be inside before you took off?"

Tails though shook his head, replying, "Nah, Sonic likes to stand on top of the plane as we travel."

"Isn't that very dangerous?" Kitty asked, now with both eyebrows arched.

"For most people." Tails told her. "But Sonic's not like most people."

Kitty couldn't argue with that, as she saw he was indeed something else.

Moments later, Kitty noticed something about Tails, asking, "Uh, just curious… How old are you anyway?"

"8."

Kitty instantly did a double take, saying with shock on her face, "You can't be serious! You're only eight and you're flying a jet?"

"Not only am I flying it, I also helped build it." Tails replied with confidence.

"How is that possible?" Kitty inquired, very skeptical. "Are you like some child genius?"

"Well, I guess you could say that." Tails said. "I was gifted with a very high IQ since birth."

"I see…"

Kitty didn't know what to think of all of this.

_These Mobians must really be some special kind of individuals. _Kitty eventually thought to herself. _How else is a hedgehog able to run like the wind and a fox smart as a scientist? Not to mention that bat and echidna._

Kitty then asked one more question. "Just wondering, where is your home exactly?"

"Well, at the moment, we live in a mansion with a group of people called the Thorndykes." Tails explained.

"And they're ok with you and your kind?" Kitty inquired.

"Of course." He replied, a bit annoyed by that question. "Why wouldn't they be? The Thorndykes consider us like family, especially their son, Chris."

"Err.. right.."

Kitty at this point was deeply confused by all of this, but decided to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

_Well, maybe visiting this Thorndykes' place won't be so bad to visit for now. After all, I could use a bit of a breather after that fierce battle with Eggman._


	8. The Aftermath

Within ten minutes, the X-Tornado arrived at the Thorndyke's residence.

"Hang on, everyone." Tails announced. "I'm coming in."

Kitty did as he said, as the young fox brought the super jet down onto the runway with ease, even surprising her on how well he did it.

"Wow, a 3 point landing." She commented with amazement. "I'm impressed.

"Flying this jet is as easy as remembering the back of my hand." Tails told her boldly.

After the two tailed fox brought it to a stop, he and Kitty climbed out of the X-Tornado, with Sonic jumping off it before they did.

"Well, at least the Thorndyke's residence is still in one piece." Sonic commented with a sigh.

Tails nodded his head softly and replied now somberly, "I cannot believe that vile Eggman actually planned a surprise attack after we left. How did he know we would be leaving to the Mystic Ruins?"

"You got me." Sonic said, shaking his head with disgust. "Anyway, let's head inside. "Hopefully Amy and Cream weren't hurt by Eggman's attack."

Sonic had quietly snuck off with Tails since he didn't want to deal with Amy's infatuation of him during the trip.

As the three of them walked towards the mansion, Tails said with caution, "You know Amy's going to be ticked off at you for leaving her behind."

Sonic knew that would be true, but decided to deal with it promptly when the situation arose. Kitty then asked them, "Tell me, how many are there of you guys?"

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked puzzled.

"I mean, how many… errr… Mobians are there around these parts?" Kitty explained, with hesitance in her voice.

"Oh that…" Tails then told her quickly. "Well, besides me and Sonic here, there's Amy and Cream, as we recently mentioned, along with Knuckles, Rouge and Big."

"Knuckles?" Kitty arched an eyebrow and asked, "You know him?"

"Of course we do." Sonic replied, looking at the feline agent, perplexed. "We all came from the same place, Mobius."

"So it is true what they told me." Kitty said to herself softly.

Moments later, Sonic opened the front door and went inside. But as he did so, he was abruptly greeted by a swinging Piko hammer, making him jump backwards, completely startled. Even Kitty was a bit shocked by this.

"I told you she would be mad." Tails commented softly.

"I'll handle this." Sonic told him. He then walked towards the door and was about to explain, when he heard her shout, with the hammer firmly in her grasp, "Don't come any closer, or I'll put a big dent in your metal hides!"

"Huh? What's she talking about?" Kitty pondered to herself.

"Amy, wait, it's me. Calm down." Sonic said, trying to diffuse her anger.

Amy quickly stuck her head out the door, now seeing him clearly. In a flash, she ran to him in tears, "Oh, Sonic, you're alive!"

Sonic braced himself, as he thought she was going to hurt him, but instead hugged him tightly, saying with a sob, "I thought Eggman had killed you."

"C'mon now, you should now I can handle anything that maniac throws at me." he told her with confidence, trying to soothe her emotions. "I'm ok, really."

But Amy still wouldn't let go, as she had a near death grip on him around on his neck. He then noticed she was still crying profusely.

"Why are you still upset?" Sonic asked puzzled. "I told you, I'm fine. It's all good now."

"No, it's not, Sonikku." Amy said with deep emotion in her voice. "Something terrible has happened."

"What are you talking about?" Tails inquired, now confused himself. "What has happened?"

Kitty quickly poked her head inside, as she saw the mansion inside was completely trashed, making her gasp in horror. She then discreetly made her way inside while they tried to comfort Amy and noticed a shadow inside the closet door nearby, making her arch her eyes suspiciously, as she tiptoed quietly to get a closer look.

"Would you please tell me why you're so upset?" Sonic demanded.

It was at that moment he noticed something very wrong about her after touching her right side.

Sonic instantly flinched, as he saw the palm of his glove had some blood on it. Tails soon noticed it too, as he commented in disbelief, "She's been seriously injured. Amy, what happened to you?"

Amy finally tried to hold back her tears and said, "It was Eggman's E-100 Series robots. They… invaded the mansion… and…"

Before she could finish her sentence, Kitty pulled open the closet door abruptly, shouting in a fighting pose with her claws showing, "All right, you, come out of there!"

Kitty was expecting to see some robot or even one of Eggman's goons, but instead saw a small rabbit child, now hiding near the back of the closet, deeply frightened.

"Please don't hurt me, Catlady." Cream said with a whimper.

Kitty instantly let her guard down, now a bit ashamed she had traumatized her. She then said to her softly with her right hand extended while on one knee, "It's ok, Sweetie. I'm not going to hurt you. You can come out now."

Cream was very reluctant to do, but Kitty was able to coax her out of the area eventually. To her horror though, the feline agent noticed something very disturbing on her clothes.

"Oh my goodness.!" Kitty exclaimed. "How did you get that all over you?"

What Kitty had saw on her dress, was blood, and a lot of it.

"I was trying to help Amy with her wound." Cream explained sorrowfully, while holding Cheese. "But it was a very bad one."

Sonic and Tails had overheard this from the small rabbit, as they finally noticed the right side of her dress had been slightly torn, with a large bandage underneath it.

"Amy, who did this to you?" Sonic demanded.

Amy at first couldn't speak due to being weak and traumatized, but eventually said softly, "It was the E-101 Beta."

"Where is that machine?" Sonic asked her, now infuriated inside. "I'll turn it into scrap metal!"

"There's no point in that now." Amy told him sullen. "I already destroyed it with my Piko Hammer."

"Are they any of them left?" Tails inquired of her, now angry about this himself.

"Only the E-102 Gamma escaped." Amy explained. "But… I don't think you need to go after him."

"Why not?" Sonic said, now gritting his teeth. "It tried to kill you."

"Actually, he was going to, but it changed its mind." Amy replied.

Kitty looked at her perplexed, now asking herself, "What do you mean, changed its mind?"

"Well, when he was about to fire," Amy explained. "Cream and I were able to talk him out of it. You see, at that moment, I was too weak to fight back after getting shot in the right side, so we pleaded for it not to hurt us. Surprisingly, it did as we asked, even leaving the mansion without saying much in return."

"How is that even possible?" Tails pondered, putting a hand under his chin to think. "Did this E-102 really have a change of heart?"

"We'll worry about that later." Sonic said sharply. "Right now, we need to check on the others to see how they are doing."

Amy instantly began to sob harder after he had said that, making the blue hedgehog heart skip a beat.

"Amy, please don't tell me…"

"It's true, Sonic!" She told him wailing. "Eggman's robots killed the entire Thorndyke family!"

Within moments, Cream too began to cry loudly, as she was now in Kitty's arms after the feline had coaxed her out of the closet.

Sonic instantly ran up the stairs, and into Chris' room. And there he saw him on the floor near his bed, with a dozen bullets shot through his chest in a big pool of blood, dead. Seeing this made Sonic instantly look on with complete horror on his face, as he soon began to shed some tears himself with her his eyes tightly clinched, putting a hand on his back.

_No! Chris, I was too late! _

Tails then ran up the stairs himself, asking with fear in his voice as he did so, "Sonic, did you find…?"

Tails immediately stopped dead in his tracks once he reached the top. There he saw Sonic crouching near Chris' dead body.

"No…"

In that moment, Tails' eyes began to well up, as he could no longer compose himself.

"I can't believe it. Eggman's robots actually killed him." Tails said with sorrow in his voice.

Sonic didn't say anything in response at first, but then said a few seconds later, "Tails, check the others just to be sure."

"O-o-k."

Tails did as he was told, as he ran from room to room, inspecting each one thoroughly. But as Amy had said, every member of the Thorndyke family within that household, including Helen and Tanaka, had been gruesomely murdered.

The two tailed fox then went back to Sonic, saying to him with a lump in his throat, "They're all dead, just as Amy told us."

Again, Sonic was silent inside, as his sorrow and rage were now reaching dangerous levels. He then took Tails by surprise, as he abruptly blasted out the room, and out the front door.

"Sonic, where are you going?" Tails asked with shock.

Not surprisingly, he got no answer back. Tails then knelt near Chris' corpse, saying with a hand on his right shoulder, "I'm so sorry, Chris. Please forgive us for not coming sooner."

Tails knew he wouldn't answer back, but he felt he had to say it because he now felt tremendous guilt inside. Seconds later, he was instantly startled, as he heard Kitty say softly to him from behind, "I'm sure he would if he was still alive now."

Kitty by this time was no longer holding Cream, as she was downstairs with Amy.

He looked at her intently now, as he saw her quickly crouch down nearby, looking on sympathetically. Kitty then asked, "Was he a real close friend of yours?"

Tails nodded his head with a sniffle, replying, "He was indeed."

As Kitty put her right hand on his shoulder, Tails told her somberly while softly sobbing, "I should have never pursued after that Chaos Emerald. If I had stayed behind, we could have prevented this. This is all my fault."

Kitty then took him by surprise, as she hugged the two tailed fox tightly from behind, saying softly, "It's ok, Tails. I understand completely." Indeed she did, as she knew what it was like to cause pain to those she considered family.

"How do I go on from here?" Tails asked her, looking the feline in the eye now with tears still in his eyes. "Their blood is on my hands."

Kitty didn't know what to say, so she hugged him even tighter this time, eventually saying, "I know this is very difficult for you, but you can't let this destroy you on the inside. If you do, you'll end up wasting the special talents you were gifted with."

"But I'll never able to live with myself now." Tails argued sullen. "I caused this because I wanted that Chaos Emerald in our possession."

"You had good intentions, didn't you?" Kitty inquired.

"Well, yea." Tails replied with a sniffle. "I wanted to get it so we could defeat Eggman."

Kitty told him with sympathy in her voice. "Then there's no point in blaming yourself. You had no idea he was going to attack at that moment."

"But still, I could have prevented this." Tails argued again. "If I had only waited another day or so…"

Kitty then looked at Tails intently and said to him firmly, "You can't change the past now, so why dwell on it? You're only going to be hurting yourself and your friends in the process if you do."

Tails didn't like to hear her say that, but he knew she was right.

"What you can do now though is honor their memory by making Eggman pay dearly for brutally taking their lives." Kitty told him. "Since they were good friends of yours, don't give that creep a moment's rest until he's taken down for good. Channel that sorrow and anger you have within you now as a tool to restore peace to this world."

Tails again sniffled, replying with a faint smile, "You're right, Miss Kitty. I have to stay strong and honor their memory as you said and make Eggman pay in full."

"Please, just call me Kitty." She told him softly. "There's no need for formal titles among friends."

"Ok, then, Kitty."

She then said to him firmly after a brief pause, "I also want you to know that I will do all I can to help you carry out this mission."

Tails looked at her a bit surprised and asked, "You mean… You're going to give me a hand?"

"Of course." Kitty replied. "I too have a score with that mad doctor. So, you count on me to help you take him down."

Tails hugged her tightly, saying with tears still in his eyes, "Thank you, Kitty."

Kitty returned his embrace and replied with a faint smile, "You're welcome, Tails."

Having her support greatly comforted the two tailed fox, as his emotions were very fragile now.

After he finally let go, Tails said to her a bit composed, "You know, you're really kind for a G.U.N agent. I like that alot about you."

Just then, it hit Kitty. "Oh my goodness! I forgot all about them!"

She quickly stood up, saying, "I gotta get back to HQ! I'm still an agent in training."

"Oh, I see." Tails looked at her disappointed.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go now." Kitty told him.

She then began to run off, but before she could get to the stairs, Tails said to her, "Wait, Kitty."

Kitty quickly stopped, turning around, saying, "Yes?"

Tails now stood up and asked, "Will I see you again sometime in the near future?"

"Of course." She replied. "Like I said, I'm going to help you get rid of Eggman."

"I know that, but I mean, like…. here." Tails had said that last word with a slight blush in his cheeks.

Kitty looked at him awkwardly, asking, "Uh, here? Why?"

"Well… I just like to get to you better." He then added softly, now blushing even more "As friends, of course."

Kitty didn't how to respond to this, so she answered him, "Well, that's going to be kind of tricky since I have an obligation with G.U.N at the moment."

"Oh, I see." Tails said with disappointment.

"But… If I have some spare time, yea, sure, I'll come by to visit."

Tails flashed her another faint smile, saying softly, "Thanks. I appreciate it."

"Anytime."

He then waved at her softly, saying, "Take care, Kitty."

"You too, Tails.

And with those words, Kitty left the room. Tails meanwhile turned back to look at Chris' corpse and declared boldly, "I promise you, Chris. I shall avenge the deaths of you and your family, taking Eggman's life as recompense. "

Meanwhile, Kitty ran out of the mansion, heading towards Central City as fast as she could. Even though she was still weak from her previous injuries, Kitty was able to run at a moderate pace.

_I sure hope this doesn't cost me my job with G.U.N. _Kitty thought to herself.

Eventually, she saw the city in front of her, making her say, "Just a little further and I'll be there."

Kitty was about to exit the same meadow where she had worked with Rouge on her training, when she saw something on a hill that caught her eye.

_Huh? Is that… Sonic?_

Kitty ran up there, and indeed it was. She saw him sitting under a tree with his arms crossed, looking at the remains of the city with a look of rage on his face. Kitty then walked up behind him, saying, "Sonic?"

Sonic turned his to the left, seeing who it was, and then quickly turned away in a huff.

"Are you ok?" she asked him.

"What do you think?" he replied gruffly.

Kitty knew that was a dumb question to ask. Even though she knew she needed to get back to G.U.N, she decided to talk with him for a minute.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean anything by it." Kitty replied. "I was just wondering why you ran out of the house so fast."

"Why do you care?" Sonic asked her, looking at Kitty with a frown on his face. "It's no concern of yours."

"I know that." Kitty said, now sitting down next to him. "But, since you helped me out earlier, I thought I could kind of return the favor."

"I see…"

For the next ten seconds, neither said anything, as Kitty was tying to think of what to say. She then said to him after it ended, "I take it you're very angry about what Eggman did."

"You could say that." Sonic said. "What Eggman did in Chris' home was unforgivable! I'll cut him in two for this the next time I see his fat hide!"

"I guess I can't blame you for feeling this way." Kitty commented softly, glancing at the grass nearby with her head down. She then said to him, looking at the blue hedgehog intently, "You should know, Tails is really taking this hard as well. He even blames himself for what happened."

Sonic finally looked at her and asked, "Why? It's not his fault they were killed."

"Well, he said it was his idea to go look for that Chaos Emerald you found."

Sonic was silent for a bit, soon replying, "While that may be true, I basically pushed him into going since I wanted that gem even more than he did. So, if anyone's responsible… It's me." Sonic had said that last line with deep sorrow in voice.

"Oh."

He quickly slammed his hand on the ground, almost shouting, "I should have seen this coming! It's like he knew when we were going to leave and pounced!"

"I really don't think that was the case." Kitty told him. "I remember him specifically saying he was even surprised you hadn't showed up yet."

Sonic then remembered he did say that, as he soon sighed to himself, now upset with himself emotionally. "I just wish I could have saved them in time. They were such nice people."

Kitty didn't know what to say in response. Sonic though added before she could, "I don't think if I can live in that mansion anymore. The fact it was where they were killed makes that place too haunting for me to do so."

"I can understand that." Kitty commented softly.

"What I can't figure out is why Eggman would kill them anyway." Sonic said angrily. "It was me he was after. Why go after the Thorndykes and try to destroy their home when I'm his biggest threat?"

Kitty then answered after another brief period of silence, "Well, maybe he was trying to drive you away from that place as a strategy to make you homeless, so you would be more vulnerable."

Sonic let out a heavy sigh, saying, "You may be right."

He then laid his head down into his chest, now in deep thought and anguish. Seeing his pain, Kitty told him after putting a hand on his right shoulder. "We'll get Eggman. He won't get away with this. I promise you that."

Sonic was a bit startled by this move of Kitty's, but didn't wrench her shoulder from her grasp. "Are you actually implying you want to help us take him out?" he inquired with arched eyebrows.

Kitty nodded her head, replying, "Indeed I do. Even though I'm still a G.U.N agent, I want to do my part to see his downfall." She then added with anger in her voice, "He's killed too many people, and I cannot allow him to get away with that any longer."

At this point, Sonic was very impressed with the feline agent's demeanor, commenting, "You know, you're all right, Kitty."

Kitty slightly blushed at his compliment, as he added soon afterwards, "Anyway, I never got to thank you for saving my life as well. So…. thanks."

Kitty quickly stood up, replying, "Anytime." She then turned to leave, but before she did, she said to him with a wave from her right hand, 'See you around, Sonic."

Sonic now stood up himself, also waving back with his right hand, replying, "See ya, Kitty."

After he said that, Kitty headed towards G.U.N HQ, not knowing what to expect from the Commander. Nonetheless, she thought to herself, _well, even if this doesn't work, I still have a place I can go to for the time being._

While Kitty was indeed very thankful for her new friends she had just met, in Knuckles, Sonic and Tails, she still had a deep desire to succeed with G.U.N. Even though Rouge and Eggman had thrown a huge curveball into her training, she would not let it deter her if possible.

_I will tough it out at G.U.N no matter what. I made a sacrifice to come here, and I'm not going to give up on that dream just yet._

Meanwhile, Eggman soon returned to his base, where Decoe and Becoe were waiting for him. During the flight back home, Eggman had been seriously brooding, almost to the point of complete rage.

_If that vile hedgehog and feline G.U.N agent think they're going to stop me, they've got another missile coming for em!_

After he landed his Eggmobile inside the base, Decoe said, "Ah, you've returned, Dr. Eggman. We were wondering when you would come back. So, how did it go?"

Eggman responded after getting out of his machine by shoving him aside, shouting, "Shut up, you bucket of bolts!"

Becoe quickly went to help Decoe up, as he commented, "I take it your assault on Central City didn't go very well."

"Oh, what tipped you off, genius?" Eggman lashed out.

He then went into a tirade, banging the table near his computer, muttering under his breath "If it wasn't for that troublemaking feline, I would have succeeded. Ooohh, how I hate her."

Neither Decoe, nor Becoe heard what he said, so they asked him, "Uh, is there anything we can do to make you calm down, Dr. Eggman?"

Eggman instantly turned around and replied, "You want to help me?"

"Of course, sir." Decoe said. "We are your assistants after all."

He then dug out a picture from one of his jacket pockets and told them, "I want you to find out who this is. Give me a thorough background check on her as soon as possible! Spare no expense during this mission!" Eggman had taken a picture of her during the fight with his machine guns.

Decoe took the picture from Eggman's hand, looking at intently. At first, he was confused, asking, "Uh, sir, why would you care about this cat anyway? She doesn't seem that much of a threat to me."

Eggman instantly growled, picking up Decoe by his metal shoulders, shouting, "She's the reason my plans went up in smoke, you imbecile!"

Becoe was horrified by Eggman's rage, as Decoe then said, "Ok, ok, I'm sorry, Dr. Eggman. I didn't know. I'll get that info for you right away."

Eggman quickly let go of him, with Becoe asking afterwards, "Are you actually implying us she took down your Egg Carrier all by herself? That's impossible."

"No, she didn't." Eggman shot back. "She of course had help from that traitorous Rouge, and Sonic as well, but that's beside the point. Because of her, Sonic was able to take me by surprise and helped deliver the final blow!"

Eggman instantly jumped and down, shouting in a tantrum, "I want that feline, and I want her now!"

Decoe and Becoe didn't know what to think, but they soon asked, "Uh, shouldn't we be focusing on Sonic first? I mean, he is your #1 threat."

Eggman instantly shot them a murderous glare in response, making both of them flinch and cringe. He then shouted, "Don't you get it, you morons? If we don't take her out first, Sonic will have more of an advantage over me than ever! Those two will make a deadly 1-2 punch against me and my empire. It must be dealt with promptly!"

Deciding to not rile up their boss anymore, Decoe replied, "As you wish, sir. We'll give a full report as soon as possible."

"Get to it now!" Eggman ordered. "At least make yourselves useful as my so called assistants!"

Decoe and Becoe immediately did as they were told, bolting out of the room as fast as they could. After they were out of sight, Eggman muttered to himself, "Once I find out more about this troublemaker, I'll crush her under my new mecha's metal foot into dust!"

Seconds later, Bokkun came flying in, saying, "Dr. Eggman, I've got an update for you."

"What is it?" Eggman inquired irritated.

"You'll be pleased to know that the Thorndyke family was successfully killed by your E-100 Series robots."

Eggman flashed a grin and asked, "Oh, really? Well then, this is great news. I guess my day wasn't so bad after all."

He then asked after a brief pause, "So tell me, when are they returning to base?"

Bokkun looked at him hesitantly and replied, "Uh, well, you see, sir, most of them have been destroyed."

"WHAT?" Eggman grabbed Bokkun by his shoulders and demanded, "What do you mean they've been destroyed? Explain yourself, you pathetic flying robot!"

Bokkun struggled to speak, eventually replying, "Well, the hedgehog, known as Amy Rose was able to destroy most of them with her Piko Hammer."

"Well what happened to the remaining units then?" Eggman inquired.

"There is only one left, sir." Bokkun explained. "The E-102 Gamma."

"What happened to that one?" Eggman demanded, this time angrier. "Why didn't he take out that meddlesome girl?"

"Well, the truth is, sir, Gamma, uh, went AWOL."

"WHAT? AWOL? What do you mean by that?" Eggman interrogated.

"As far as I know, Gamma left the mansion and hasn't been heard from since." Bokkun told him.

Now completely enraged, Eggman tossed Bokkun aside with fury, making him crash into one of the walls nearby with intensity. The small flying robot was knocked senseless as a result of Eggman's heave.

While Bokkun groaned against the wall he had just damaged, Eggman growled loudly and said while gritting his teeth, "When I find Gamma, I'm going to dismantle him to pieces! Nobody goes AWOL from me and gets away with it! NOBODY!"

Back in Central City, Kitty eventually made it back to G.U.N HQ. As it turned out, their building was still standing, but heavily damaged in the process.

Kitty was in the process of heading towards the Commander's room, where she inadvertently saw Rouge ahead. Seeing her made Kitty seethe inside. In a flash, Kitty tried to take a shot at the manipulating bat with her back to the feline agent, as she displayed her claws from her right hands, instantly lunging at her in one quick swoop.

Unfortunately for Kitty, Rouge saw it coming and blocked it with her right foot, as her attack was instantly halted.

"Ah, ah, ah." Rouge taunted, waving a finger at her with her right hand. "You know better than that."

Kitty frowned with a groan as Rouge put her leg back on the ground, saying, "Trying to attack a lady without giving her a chance to defend herself? And here I thought you were one of high standards."

"Who are you to lecture me about that, you pathetic excuse for a bat!" Kitty shot back.

Rouge took some offense at that statement, but Kitty said to her before she could retort, "Because of your pride, I could have been killed! You completely make me sick!"

To Kitty's shock, Rouge again showed no remorse for her actions. Instead, she retorted, "Hey, I did what I had to do. I wasn't going to let you rat me out. This gig I have with G.U.N is too important to me to let some hotshot rookie take it from me."

"How do you sleep at night?" Kitty demanded with a glare. "You're almost as bad as Eggman himself."

"Why thank you, dearie." Rouge replied with a grin. "It's nice to know my skills are being noticed after all."

Completely fed up with her, Kitty said, "All right, you, I think it's time we settled this."

"Meaning what exactly, Catwoman?"

"Meaning you and me are going to fight it out, batty!" Kitty roared. She then flashed her claws again and added, "I've had it with you and your evil ways. So, I'm going to teach you a lesson once and for all!"

To her surprise, Rouge showed hardly any emotion to her outburst. Instead, she replied with another sly grin, "Oh, so the rookie wants another lesson on how to be schooled?" She then chuckled, saying, "I must say, you really are a glutton for punishment."

"Shut up! We'll settle this outside!" Kitty fired back.

"Are you sure you really want to do that, seeing how banged up you are and all?" Rouge asked with sarcasm. "After all, you could break a nail, or claw I should say."

"I don't need your sympathy!" Kitty shouted. "I'm still strong enough to whip your batty hide!"

Rouge then made her even angrier, as she laughed heartily, saying, "I think someone's ingested too much of those Egg Carrier's fumes. You really don't know what you're asking for, honey. I'm way too strong to be beat from a wimp like yourself."

Kitty growled loudly, as she was about to lung at her again right there on the spot, that is until the Commander of G.U.N finally opened the door, saying loudly, "That's enough!"

Both of them quickly looked at him a bit startled, as he said while waving his right hand commandingly at them, "Both of you, in my office, now. We need to talk."

As the Commander went inside again, Rouge said to Kitty with taunt, "Ooh, looks like someone's in trouble. Why don't you save yourself the humiliation and just resign?"

Kitty though retorted to her, "Not when I still have this."

Rouge saw the recorder of hers again, instantly gritting her teeth in anger, "I thought that thing would be destroyed by now."

"Looks like I'm holding the ace now, batgirl." Kitty told her with a sly grin. "So, if you don't want me to show what's on this to the Commander, you better pass me."

"Why you low down, no good…"

"Just like you, Rouge, I did what I had to."

The Commander then said to them loudly through the door, "Are you two coming in or not?"

"Right away, sir." Rouge replied.

Both agents then entered his room, as they soon sat down in seats on the opposite side of the Commander's desk. He then looked them both in the eye and said, "Ok, I have two questions I'd like you two to answer for me."

"Uh, sure, sir." Rouge said hesitantly. "Shoot."

"First off, how did the training missions go?"

"How they did go…?"

"Yes, Rouge. How would you critique Miss Katswell's skills?" The Commander reiterated.

Rouge took a quick glance at Kitty, as she eyed her firmly while patting her pocket where the recorder was. Seeing this, Rouge answered, "I would say, sir, Miss Katswell is more than qualified to be a G.U.N agent for us."

"You're 100% sure about that?" The Commander inquired with arched eyebrows.

"Uh, yes, sir, I am sure."

The Commander looked at her suspiciously, asking, "You mind telling me then why there is hesitation on your part when I asked you this?"

Rouge quickly realized she had to cover her tracks, so she said, "Oh, uh, I'm just a bit rattled after the devastating attack on Central City, sir. That's all."

"Hmm… I see. Ok then."

The Commander bought her story, making Rouge sigh a sigh of relief.

But unfortunately, the Commander eyed both of them again, this time saying louder, "Now for my 2nd question." He then stood up and pointed at the two agents shouting, "What in the world were you doing going after Eggman?"

This question made both of cringe, as they were shocked he found out so quickly.

"Uh, how did you…?"

"How do I know, Miss Katswell? Because it's all over the news! Your antics were displayed on every news channel in Central City!"

Kitty realized this wasn't looking good for her.

The Command then pounded his desk, shouting again, "What you did was extremely reckless! You could have gotten yourselves killed, or even more civilians!"

"I know you're upset about this, sir." Kitty replied hesitantly, trying to diffuse the situation. "But we did a lot of…"

"You weren't even authorized to go after him!" The Commander yelled. "What in the world were you thinking, Miss Katswell? Did you not think about chain of command and protocol?"

"I know about that, Commander." Kitty explained. "But it was kind of a touchy situation. Many people were being killed. I couldn't just sit back and let Eggman get away with that."

"If you two and that showoff pilot would have followed orders instead of trying to play hero, we could have saved more lives."

"What were your orders?" Kitty asked.

The Commander looked at her with firmly and replied, "We actually were going to surrender to Eggman."

Kitty looked at him dumbfounded. "You can't be serious, sir. Why would you do that?"

"What choice did I have?" He shot back. "Eggman was going to destroy us all if I didn't. I did what I had to do."

The Commander though held his held low, as he was ashamed of that decision; even if it was a matter of no choice. But before Kitty could say something, he added with anger, "But instead, we got ourselves in a huge war now!"

"Weren't you already in one?" Kitty inquired.

The Commander shook his head, answering, "Technically, no. True, we were fighting each other, but neither of us declared war on the other, until today."

"How do you know that?" Rouge asked, now speaking up.

"Because I got this!" The Commander showed a memo he had recently gotten from Eggman and handed it to Kitty.

It said.

"Because you had to interfere with my plans, I shall use the rest of my resources from here on out to annihilate you and the rest of G.U.N.

Don't even bother surrendering. I shall have my revenge on you, and there's nothing you can do to change my mind."

Eggman.

Kitty realized Eggman was dead serious about his threat.

The Commander then continued, "Because of that memo, I dealt with that kamikaze pilot of mine and gave him the boot."

Kitty instantly cringed, as she realized her job was indeed in jeopardy.

"Now then." The Commander said. "Before I pass my judgment on you, I'm going to give you one chance to explain yourselves."

Swallowing hard, Kitty explained to him. "Sir, me and Rouge did a lot of damage to Eggman's plans. In fact, we were able to defeat him and stop that maniac from committing anymore bloodshed."

"Is that a fact?" The Commander demanded with arched eyebrows. "What about the Egg Carrier crashing into those buildings, killing more innocent civilians? Was that part of your plan as well?"

Kitty quickly realized this was not looking good, so she replied, "I don't think there was anything we could have done about that. It was unfortunately one of the aftermaths of destroying his onboard weapons."

The Commander was now in deep thought after hearing this, trying to decide what to do. Kitty though couldn't help but feel uneasy during this time of silence. Ten seconds later, he turned to Rouge and asked, "Do you confirm Miss Katswell's story to be true?"

Deciding not to risk anything, Rouge replied, "Yes, sir. I believe there was nothing that could be done. The Egg Carrier crashing into those buildings was just a casualty of war I hate to say."

Again, the Commander was in deep thought, making Kitty feel more uneasy with every passing second. He finally said after another long pause, "Very well then, I shall accept your story and give you a pass on your actions this time."

Kitty sighed heavily with relief, saying, "Thank you, Commander."

"But know this." Commander Tower told Kitty firmly, pointing a finger at her.  
>"I do not tolerate agents for very long who think they can go against my orders."<p>

"With all due respect, sir." Kitty replied. "We weren't told not to fight him. Plus, after that pilot attacked the Egg Carrier against your wishes, Eggman would have killed us all anyway, regardless of what we did."

"I'm aware of that." The Commander reiterated. "Still, that doesn't excuse not following protocol. When you belong to a group like ours, disobedience or taking matters into your own hands is very frowned upon."

Kitty realized the Commander wasn't going to see her point of view on this, so she answered with a sigh, "I understand, sir. It won't happen again."

"Good, glad to hear it."

The Commander then got out of his seat again and said, "Now then, after seeing your little scuffle, I think its best you two don't work together anymore. Agents are supposed to work in harmony, not argue and fight."

"I couldn't agree more with you on that." Kitty commented.

"Therefore, I'm going to assign Agent Topaz as your new mentor." The Commander told her. "Agent Rouge here is going to be reassigned and work with someone else."

"Agent Topaz?" Kitty looked at him confused. "I thought she was on vacation."

"Not anymore." He replied firmly. "We're at war now. There is no time for rest and relaxation."

Kitty couldn't argue with that, so she nodded her head and said, "Very well then."

"Anyway," The Commander continued, "Until she arrives, Agent Katswell, you are going to be assigned more training missions within the compound that will sharpen your skills further."

"As you wish, sir." Kitty replied.

"Are we done, Commander?" Rouge asked.

"Not quite." He then pulled out a paper and said to the female bat, "Sign your name on the dotted line below, giving Agent Katswell a passing grade for her training missions you two went on."

While Rouge didn't want to pass her, she did just to keep that tape from being played. After she signed it, the Commander took the paper back and put in his desk, soon saying afterwards, "Ok, that'll be all. Good day to you."

The two agents then left his office, with Kitty commenting as they walked down the hallway, "Well, guess that means we won't be partners anymore."

"Couldn't have come soon enough." Rouge muttered. "You are one frustrating agent to work with."

"Looks who's talking." Kitty shot back. "I wasn't the one who abandoned their post."

Rouge though blew off her again, "I'm not going there again, Catwoman. You know where I stand on that."

"I really should thank Knuckles for his advice." Kitty said out of the blue. "He really helped me out."

"Are you talking about him again?" Rouge demanded. "I thought I told he's not for sale in the romance department."

"Oh, that's right." Kitty retorted with a grin. "You bought the rights to that, even though I clearly saw him pounding you with his fists not even 24 hours ago."

"What Knuckles and I do is none of your business!" Rouge shouted. "This relationship of ours is too complicated for someone like you to understand."

"All I know is, he was yelling at you, while being cordial with me." Kitty retorted again.

Rouge by now was losing her cool with the feline agent, saying with a finger pointed in Kitty's face, "If you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from him. He's my echidna, not yours."

"If I want to hang out with him, that's none of your business." Kitty told her firmly. "If he loves you so much, as you claim he does, you shouldn't have anything to worry about."

"That's beside the point." Rouge said with a frown. "If you're going to go flirt with some guy, go flirt with Amy's."

"He's not even yours to begin with." Kitty replied. "I don't believe he loves you at all."

Hearing that remark made Rouge grit her teeth, as Kitty asked puzzled, "And what do you mean by Amy's man anyway?"

"Boy, you must be new here, or you wouldn't have asked that." Rouge said. "I'm talking about Sonic."

"Huh?" Kitty now was completely confused. "Are you trying to tell me that pink hedgehog is Sonic's girlfriend?"

"No, but Amy likes to let people know she is, even if it's in title alone." Rouge replied with a grin.

Kitty unfortunately hadn't noticed that due to seeing the carnage at the Thorndykes home. "I thought she was just his friend or something."

"You've got a lot to learn, rookie." Rouge commented.

"Never mind that." Kitty said, shaking her head. She then pointed a finger at Rouge and told her firmly, "Who I decide to date, if that what is I want to do, is none of your business."

"You mess with Knuckles; you make it my business, Catwoman."

"Still can't call me by my real name, can you?" Kitty muttered, now crossing her arms together.

"Why should I?' Rouge retorted. "You haven't earned my respect for me to do so. And besides, the only reason I passed you was because of that wretched tape you had over me."

"Yes, I'm fully aware of that." Kitty repaid.

"Speaking of which," Rouge said. "I'd like to hear just how much you got over me anyway. With the Commander having us enter his office so abruptly, I didn't get the chance to find out."

"With pleasure, batty."

Kitty then got out her recorder and played it, but to her shock, no sound came from it.

"What the…?"

"So you didn't even record me at all, did you?" Rouge demanded angrily.

"Of course I did!" Kitty shot back.

She then inspected the device, taking off the protective cover and quickly found the problem. Part of the wiring had been severely frayed from the earlier battle.

"I guess you were right about the device being wrecked." Kitty said to Rouge with a chuckle. "Too bad you can't use it against me now."

Rouge growled at Kitty and shouted, "Why you no good… I oughta go back in the Commander's office right this second and change my story."

"Go right ahead." Kitty dared her. "You'll look like a fool though if you do."

"What do you mean by that?" Rouge demanded.

"You signed your name on that paper." Kitty reiterated. "If you try to change it now, you'll look incompetent to the Commander, thus risking your job as a G.U.N agent."

Rouge again growled, as she knew Kitty was right. "I cannot believe I actually got out done by a rookie hotshot."

"Guess that's the breaks." Kitty told her, shrugging her shoulders with a sly grin.

Rouge then walked away, stopping after ten feet, saying, "This isn't over, Catwoman. I'll get my revenge on you for your trickery."

"You sound like Eggman now." Kitty fired back. "You sure you don't want to join his team, batty?"

"Shut up."

Rouge immediately walked away, as Kitty watched, thinking with a deep sigh of relief, _Thank goodness I'm done with that troublemaker. She was a complete headache to work with._

Since there was a bench nearby where she was currently standing, and Kitty was very tired at the moment, she sat down on it, trying to gather her thoughts.

Out of nowhere, her former comrades at T.U.F.F came to her mind, as she pulled out their picture again from her jacket. Seeing it still made her feel very sad, even a bit guilty inside.

_I sure hope they're doing ok. I miss those guys, Dudley too I hate to say._

Kitty couldn't help but wonder what would become of T.U.F.F after the recent turmoil it was facing.

Unknown to her, it would be worse than she ever thought possible.

The following day, the meeting with T.U.F.F and the city council took place.

"Order," The judge said, slightly banging his gavel. "This meeting shall come to order. He then turned to the lawyer representing Petropolis, saying with a nod, "All right, state your case."

The lawyer nodded his head, stepping out and addressing those in the building, "Your honor, City council, citizens Petropolis, I shall be very brief about this."

He then walked around while talking, "As you know, T.U.F.F has been keeping our city safe for quite some time now, and we are all grateful for their past help."

"However," he said after a pause. "I think it's time to face facts. Petropolis no longer needs this group to keep us safe anymore."

"I object!" The Chief yelled from the T.U.F.F side of the courtroom. "That statement is a downright travesty!"

"Same here!" Dudley added.

The judge banged his gavel loudly, saying firmly to them, "Silence! You two shall get your turn eventually, but you will be silent for the time being."

The Chief and Dudley did as they were told, though both of them heavily frowned in their seats.

The lawyer then continued, "With Snaptrap dead and Birdbrain serving a lifetime sentence, why do we need to keep funding this so called agency, especially when they haven't done anything as of late?"

"The fact you state that shows how little you know about T.U.F.F!" Dudley roared. "Who are you to judge our group, you stuckup?"

Again, the judge banged his gavel loudly, now shouting at the white dog, "I said, BE QUIET! Another outburst out of you, Agent Puppy, and I'll have you in contempt."

Dudley looked at the judge with rage on his face, but the Chief told him, "Let it go, son. We'll get our turn later. I can't risk having you in contempt, especially since you're our best agent after Kitty abandoned us."

Dudley knew this was true, so he obeyed the Chief's orders, though very reluctantly.

"You may continue." The judge told the lawyer.

"Thank you, your honor."

As he continued to bash T.U.F.F unfairly with his speech, Dudley soon began to be in deep thought, thinking, _Oh, Kitty, I wish you were still here with us. You could've helped us out of this mess._

10 minutes later, the lawyer finally finished, saying as his conclusion, "So as you can see, T.U.F.F is no longer needed in Petropolis. Therefore, your Honor, I think it would be in the city's best interest if this group was no more."

The judge nodded his head, replying, "Thank you, sir. You may sit down now."

As the lawyer did that, the judge slightly banged his gavel again, saying to the Chief, "Ok, let's hear your side now."

"With pleasure." The small flea replied, bouncing towards a microphone, near a stand. Once he was in place, he said to the court, "Don't let this slick lawyer deceive you with his smooth words and big talk, my fellow citizens. He doesn't know the first thing about what's best for the city. He's just saying what he has to in order to win his case."

"Now that is slander." The lawyer objected. "I'll have you know I'm very genuine whenever I address people."

The judge lightly banged his gavel, saying to the lawyer, "Now, now, there's no need to get all riled up. He's just speaking his mind."

To the Chief's shock though, the judge added, "However, I request you don't verbally attack him any further. He is not on trial."

"But he said a whole bunch of lies about us." The Chief argued. "I can't let him get away with that, your honor."

"Then state your case with facts as your rebuttal, not with accusations." The judge replied firmly.

The Chief sighed heavily, but nodded his head in agreement. He then continued, "T.U.F.F has done too much good for this city to be just thrown away like garbage. Just because not much crime has happened, who's to say another supervillain won't attack the city? Or who's to say Snaptrap is really dead and that Birdbrain won't escape from prison sometime soon?"

"It's been about a month, Chief." The lawyer countered. "I think if there were going to escape or "come back from the dead" they would have by now." The lawyer had used two of his fingers in a quote gesture when mentioning that last part.

"That's no concern of yours!" The Chief shot back. "Be quiet and let me finish!"

The judge banged his gavel again, saying to the small flea, "I told you not to attack the lawyer with your words."

"But he interrupted me." The Chief protested. "If I can't interrupt him during his speech, I should get the same."

The judge sighed heavily, replying, "Very well, you do have a point." He then looked at the lawyer and asked softly, "Please keep your questions and complaints until after he's done speaking, ok?"

"As you wish, sir." The lawyer answered him.

The Chief couldn't help but feel something was aloof, as the judge seemed to favor the city over T.U.F.F, but continued his speech. "While I'm not suggesting the police within Petropolis are unable to take care of crime here, we at T.U.F.F are able to take care of crimes they can't. We are a secret spy group after all, with high tech weapons and gadgets. Snaptrap would have mopped the floor with the police hadn't it been for us. That's why I'm saying Petropolis needs T.U.F.F. Removing this agency is only going to lead to a big crime wave that the police will not be able to stop."

A minute later, the Chief finally finished his speech, as Dudley now gave his testimony on T.U.F.F's credibility as well. Unfortunately though, Dudley's speech ended up doing more harm than good, as he couldn't help but chew his butt a couple of times when answering questions from the T.U.F.F lawyer.

Eventually, the T.U.F.F lawyer said, rolling his eyes, "Thank you, Agent Puppy. You may have a seat."

The lawyer on other side commented with a chuckle as Dudley went to his chair, "Well, I must say, if that is your best agent, you guys are worse than I originally thought."

"Shut up, you hack!" The Chief shouted at him, pointing a finger in his face. "I'm sick of you and your bantering!"

Instantly, the judge banged the gavel loudly, saying with authority, "I said, no more verbal attacks, Chief!"

"Well what about his?" The Chief demanded.

The judge sighed and answered him, "Fine, no more cheap shots from either side. The next one to do so ends in contempt!"

That silenced everyone in the courtroom, as the judge then asked the T.U.F.F lawyer, "Any further witnesses?"

The T.U.F.F lawyer looked at the Chief, who shook his head no. He realized if Keswick spoke, his stuttering would further erode any credibility T.U.F.F had left.

"Nothing further, your Honor."

"Very well then."

The judge looked at those in the court and said, "Since there is no more testimony, the city council shall now begin to vote on this."

He then banged his gavel and said, "We shall meet tomorrow at 8am, where the final vote will be rendered. Ok, court is dismissed."

As everyone began to file out, the lawyer from the city said to the Chief and the others from T.U.F.F with a sly grin, "I hope you enjoy your time at your little agency today, because it's going to gone before you know it."

Dudley was ready to punch his lights out right there on the spot, when the Chief told him, "Restrain yourself, Agent Puppy."

"But why?" Dudley asked confused. "This guy's got it coming to him."

"I know that, but we don't need to give them any more ammunition against us." The Chief explained. "We're in enough trouble as it is."

"Smart move, flea." The lawyer said smugly. "Still, you're pretty much sunk regardless." He then added at them tauntingly, "Adios."

And with those words, he walked away from them.

Dudley looked back at the Chief after glaring with rage at the lawyer for a sec, feeling very sad and asked, "What are we going to do, sir? Is there any hope for T.U.F.F?"

The Chief sighed heavily and replied, "I don't know."

The small flea then added after a brief pause, "Maybe if Agent Katswell were still here, we might have been ok."

Dudley saw the Chief looked sad too, making him ask, "You miss her alot, don't you, sir?"

The Chief shot an angry look at the white dog, exclaiming, "Are you crazy? Miss that deserter? Why, I'll have you we're better off without her. In fact, I….I….I…"

The small flea unfortunately couldn't finish his sentence, as he said, sighing with defeat, "Eh, who am I kidding? I do indeed miss her. T.U.F.F just isn't the same since she's left."

"I feel the same way, sir." Dudley told him.

"If only she hadn't found that new job." The Chief muttered sullen. He then added with a lump in his throat, "Why, Kitty? Why did you have to leave us?"

Before either of them realized, everyone else had left the courtroom. The Chief then sighed again, saying, "C'mon, Agent Puppy. Let's head back to HQ."

"What for, sir?" Dudley asked confused.

"To get one last look of the place, I guess." The Chief replied, now depressed inside.

Dudley quickly followed the Chief out, feeling very sad and confused inside himself.

_I can't believe this is happening. Was Kitty smart to leave when the opportunity arose?_

Dudley had no idea what was in store for the days ahead, but realized he had to be strong and not lose heart, even with things were looking bad.

Once Dudley and the Chief left the courtroom, the same shadowy figure from before reappeared in the alley way, now with a mole nearby.

"Your plan is working perfectly, sir." The mole told him. "T.U.F.F will soon be put out of business, thus allowing you to carry your next plan unhindered."

"Indeed, and I have you to thank for helping me carry this out." the shadowy figure replied with a sly grin.

"Happy to help, boss." The mole said.

"I have to say, you finding that brainwashing ray of Birdbrain's in his mountain estate was a stroke of genius."

"It was a cinch, sir." The mole answered. "Now that you have the major leaders of the city under your thumb, T.U.F.F is helpless to fight back."

"Indeed." The shadow figure said. "This time, I shall have my revenge against for them wrecking my latest scheme. And this time, nobody will stop me from carrying out my next evil plan."

He then added boasting, "Be afraid, Petropolis, be very afraid. Your time of chaos and despair will soon be upon you."

And with those words, the shadowy figure began to laugh heartily and evilly as well. Soon, even his mole henchmen joined in, laughing as well.

To be continued…


	9. Dealing with tragedy

Back at Eggman's fortress, the mad doctor decided to start begin working on a new robot.

_If I'm going to deliver the final blow to those two meddling troublemakers, then I'm going to need something that will strike fast and with fury._

As Eggman began to work on the blueprints, his robot messenger, Bokkun, subtly looked over his right shoulder while hovering. Eggman though felt someone behind him, making him growl quietly inside.

Bokkun then asked softly, "What are you working on, sir?"

"None of your business!" Eggman shouted at him from behind.

"Is that plans for a new robot to help get rid of Sonic?" he asked again after a pause.

Eggman instantly turned on him, looking at his flying robot with a fierce glare and said angrily, "You want me to fling you against the wall again?"

Bokkun quickly cringed and backup a bit in the air, saying with a tremble, "Why are you angry with me, doctor? I didn't do anything wrong."

"You brought me bad news." Eggman reiterated. "And if that's not enough, you're really starting to get on my nerves now."

"I… was just curious on what you were working on." Bokkun replied whimpering.

As Eggman continued to glare at him, he added, "Please, give me a chance to redeem myself to you, sir."

Eggman grabbed him firmly by his chest with both hands, making the small robot yelp as he said to him, "You really want to help?"

"Oh, y-yes, Dr. Eggman."

"Then get outta here and start cleaning up my fortress!"

Eggman quickly threw him out of the room immediately after saying this with his right arm. Bokkun yelled with fright while flying through the air, soon crashing violently into another wall in the next room.

As Bokkun groaned in a daze from the collision, Eggman turned back to his blueprints, muttering to himself while he worked on them again, "How can a brilliant genius like myself get anything done with incompetent assistants like that?"

Meanwhile, at G.U.N HQ, Kitty began to work on the training drills within the building. The training drills ranged from shooting targets, stealth tests, even obstacle courses.

Not surprisingly, Kitty was quickly able to master them all within three hours. Once she completed her objectives, she walked to a vending machine nearby and bought a bottle of water, as she was very thirsty now.

While Kitty sat down on a bench nearby to catch her breath and take a sip of water, she heard someone say to her, "Nice work there, agent Katswell."

Kitty turned to her left, and there she saw Topaz, walking towards her, now in her full G.U.N uniform.

"Wow, that was fast." The feline agent commented. "I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow."

Topaz sat down next to her on the bench and replied, "Well, with our group at war now, the Commander had me come back ASAP."

"I see…."

After a brief pause, Topaz said to Kitty, "I heard you took on Eggman awhile ago, quite impressively too."

Kitty though was not very flattered by her compliment, replying, "Yea, but it was mostly a waste I hate to say. I didn't stop that madman. All I did was stop the bleeding he was doing to the city."

"That's better than most of us did." Topaz reiterated.

Kitty took another sip from her water and said softly, "True."

The feline agent was now silent for a bit, but commented a few seconds later, "Although, I think I could have taken him out if that traitorous bat didn't desert me."

Hearing that made Topaz arch an eyebrow, asking, "Oh, was Rouge with you?"

"Yea, she was." Kitty replied with a mutter. "And the frustrating thing was, we were making solid progress against him too."

Topaz was soon in deep thought, saying eventually, "I find that very strange. I mean, I know Rouge's is a basically a lone wolf and all, but she never did this with me when we were working together."

"You worked with her?" Kitty inquired, turning to look at her with an arched eyebrow of her own.

"Yea, why do you ask?"

"Well, I was just wondering." Kitty said hesitantly. "Was she always like this?"

"Like what?" Topaz inquired.

"A renegade, basically someone who lives by their own rules."

Topaz sighed heavily and said after a pause, "Unfortunately, yes."

"Why on earth does your group even keep her here?" Kitty asked frowning. "She's more trouble than she's worth."

Topaz sighed heavily again, replying, "Strangely, I wondered that myself when she and I became partners. But, over time, she actually wasn't as bad as I thought. Rouge's just a little rough around the edges."

"Is that a fact?" Kitty asked, again arching an eyebrow.

"Yea, I wouldn't lie to you about that."

Kitty finished off the water in her bottle before commenting, "Well, at least it's interesting to know at least one person can get along with that troublesome bat. I sure can't."

Topaz then asked her with curiosity, "Why did she desert you anyway? Did you two have an altercation or something?"

"You could say that." Kitty replied muttering.

"You mind telling me about it?"

Kitty sighed heavily once more, as thinking about it was not very pleasant to her. "I recorded our so called training missions, catching her in the act of using me for her own personal gain."

"Really?" Topaz then asked, "Were you two apart of that jewelry heist at the museum last night?"

"Sadly, yes." Kitty replied softly. "She tricked me into thinking it was a training mission."

"Wow, that's rough." Topaz commented. "Is that why she left you during your battle with Eggman?"

"Mostly." Kitty said.

"Was there another reason?" Topaz inquired.

"Eh, it's mostly silly."

"Well, you got me curious." Topaz said. "What was the other reason?"

Kitty slightly blushed, as she replied while looking at the ground, "She considers me a threat to her… uh… love life."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Topaz asked, deeply confused.

"Well, I was talking to Knuckles, and she…"

"Oh, I see." Topaz said with a smirk. "She didn't want you cutting in on her turf."

"You could say that." Kitty answered, trying not to blush.

"So, you must really like that guy I take it." Topaz commented with a slight rib.

Kitty then said blushing this time, "Well, I wouldn't say I really like him, not yet anyway. I just find him a very intriguing as an individual.

"I see." Topaz soon added firmly, "Well, if I know Rouge, she isn't going to let you get to know Knuckles better anytime soon."

"I kind of figured that." Kitty said softly. "But, if I decide to be better friends with him, she won't stop me."

Topaz could tell she was very serious about this, as she commented, "Well, good luck to you on that. You're going to need it."

The two of them then stood up, with Topaz asking soon afterward, "Just curious, are you going to report to the Commander about her desertation?"

Kitty shrugged her shoulders and replied, "What's the point? For one thing, the Commander wasn't happy about us going after Eggman to begin with, and two, Rouge and I kind of made a pact that as long as I made into G.U.N, I wouldn't report her crimes."

"I guess your hands are pretty much tied then." Topaz commented softly.

"Yea, you could say that." Kitty muttered.

"Well, let's forget about that for now." Topaz told her after another small pause. "I need to get you up to speed about what it takes to be a G.U.N agent around here."

Kitty flashed an enthusiastic grin, saying, "Sounds good. Let's get started."

While this was going on, a large robot soon ventured around a forest a few miles from Central City, none other than E-102 Gamma himself.

As he strolled around, the images from his previous mission flashed through his CPU brain. There, he again saw the horrific faces of those he and his E-100 robots graphically murdered. Each member of the Thorndyke family begged for their lives to be spared, but was completely ignored, as multiple bullets cut through them like tinfoil. Even Tanaka and Helen met this same fate not too long after.

Gamma then asked himself in a computerized monotone voice, "Master Robotnik ordered me to kill them, but was it the right thing to do to let them live instead?"

He had asked himself this after hearing the almost exact same pleas from Amy herself after Beta had fired bullets at her, seriously wounding her right side. While the humans' pleas had no effect on him, something about the pink hedgehog had made this robot stop in its tracks.

In spite of the fact Amy had basically destroyed the other E-100 robots by herself with her Piko Hammer; Gamma was unable to make himself kill her. He could still hear her voice even then, as he relived the moment in his head.

"Please, don't hurt us." Amy begged, looking at Gamma while struggling to get up. Due to her being shot by the E-101 Beta, she was weakened and became very fatigued

Even Cream added to the pleas as well, saying, "Haven't you done enough harm to us? This isn't right what you're doing."

Somehow, Cream's words added to Gamma's confusion, making him wonder why he was doing this. Nonetheless, he had said to them in that same voice, "I must kill you. Master Robotnik ordered me to take out all those within this home. Plus, you destroyed my E-100 brothers, so you must pay."

Gamma was preparing to kill both of them on the spot, as he aimed his machine gun at the two females, but again, Amy pleaded with him.

"You don't have to do this." she said with terror in her voice.

"Why not?" Gamma demanded. "You destroyed my brothers, so why should I not destroy you?"

"I didn't have a choice." Amy replied, trying to keep from hyperventilating. "They were killing everyone in the house. I had to defend myself."

Hearing this made Gamma stop again, as this explanation deeply confused his computer logic.

Amy then continued, "Please, it isn't right you fulfill Eggman's vile mission. Plus, he's only using you for his own evil purposes anyway. He doesn't care about you at all."

"But Master Robotnik built me." Gamma argued. "How can I turn on the one who gave me life?"

"I know he did." Amy replied. "But do you really think this is what you should be doing?"

"What do you mean by that?" Gamma demanded. "I was programmed to be a fighting force for Eggman."

"That's true." Amy said softly. "Still, you don't have to help him if you don't want to."

As Gamma pondered this, she added, "You can benefit this world with your abilities. You don't have to do what Eggman tells you. You can have free will if you so desire."

"Free will?" Gamma was deeply confused by this statement. "What does that even mean?"

"It means having the right to make your own decisions." Amy explained.

Again, Gamma didn't know what to make of this, so the pink hedgehog told him, "You can choose to ignore Eggman's orders. I know you can, just please try."

Even Cream joined in, saying, "Please, Mr. Robot, please spare us."

Gamma then began to have a battle within himself of what to do, as her words and Eggman's orders deeply conflicted him internally. He soon began to say to himself, "Follow Eggman. Free will. Follow Eggman. Free Will."

He soon began to say this again and again to himself, making both Amy and Cream look on deeply puzzled, but still very scared as well.

Eventually, Gamma said to them, "I cannot decide."

"What does that mean?" Cream inquired, still on edge emotionally.

Gamma though didn't tell them, as he left the mansion without another word. While Amy and Cream were deeply relieved to be spared, the horror of what just happened soon overwhelmed them.

Gamma's mind soon flashed back to present, as he asked to himself again, "Do I follow Eggman's orders, or do I choose to follow my own will?"

But the E-102 could not decide, as his inner being was deeply conflicted.

"I must make a decision, but the question is, which one do I make?"

He soon began to trudge further into the forest, trying to make up his mind about what to do.

Sometime later, Sonic returned to the mansion. As he walked closer to it, he saw Tails leaning against the outer wall with his head down. Once Sonic was close enough to see, Tails slowly looked up, and saw him walking towards the two tailed fox.

Sonic then stopped and leaned against the wall himself on the right side him, saying eventually with a heavy sigh, "Hey, Tails."

"Hey, Sonic." He said back, looking at him with watershed eyes.

For the next couple of minutes, neither of them said anything to each other, as the pain of losing the Thorndykes was still very fresh and hurt quite a bit.

Tails though eventually broke the ice, saying with a lump in his throat, "This is all my fault, Sonic."

Sonic instantly looked at him perplexed, with Tails adding, "I should never have suggested us to go find that Chaos Emerald."

"Tails…" Sonic couldn't help but feel pity after hearing this from his best friend.

In spite of the fact Kitty had given him encouragement to press on; the pain of this tragedy still completely overwhelmed him.

Tails then said after another pause, "I really want to stay strong and avenge their deaths, but I don't know how. I feel like if I try anything, I'll just make things worse."

Sonic again was silent, as Tails added with a sob, looking at him completely heartbroken, "Sonic, I wouldn't blame you at all if you're angry with me for what's happened."

Sonic was deeply perplexed by this statement, as Tails continued, "In fact, I wouldn't blame you even you never wanted to be my friend again. I know I have done nothing but caused trouble for you and the others. So, go on and tell…"

Sonic finally couldn't stand it any longer, as he said firmly while putting a hand on his right shoulder "Tails, just stop already."

Tails looked at him intently, as Sonic looked at the ground with his head down, replying, "You're not to blame for this mess."

"But Sonic. I…"

"No, Tails. I'm the one who pushed you into this. If anyone is responsible for this mess, it's me." Sonic had said that last part of the line with deep sorrow in his voice.

"Sonic, you don't under…"

Sonic again interrupted him, saying to the two tailed fox now deeply grieved inside, "Tails, please, enough already! I can't stand to see you torturing yourself like this."

Hearing that from Sonic made Tails ask, "You mean, you're not angry with me at all?"

"Of course not!" Sonic replied sharply. "Why would I be?"

"But what about…?"

"As I said." Sonic reiterated softly. "You're not to blame for this. So if you really are my friend, you won't keep beating yourself up."

Tails was in deep thought after Sonic said this to him, saying softly after a brief pause, "Well, ok then."

As Sonic looked at the night time sky, Tails added, "It's just… I don't know to carry on now. I feel so lost and confused inside. You know what I'm saying?"

Sonic glanced at Tails and replied, "I guess we'll just have to rely on each other for strength then, won't we?"

Tails nodded his head, saying after another pause, "You're right."

The two of them then turned to each other, staring at each other's brokenhearted expression, eventually embracing each other tightly. Since Tails was facing the sky, he thought to himself while glancing at the moon, _I must stay strong. I cannot let Eggman win. He must pay for his vicious crimes._

Ten seconds later, the two of them let go, with Sonic asking Tails, "So, how's Amy and Cream holding up?"

Tails shook his head, replying, "Amy's still very weak from her injury, but she's holding up ok. Cream though seems very traumatized after everything that's happened."

"I see." Sonic then asked curiously, "Did Amy ask about me while I was gone?"

"Surprisingly, no." Tails replied softly. "She seemed really out of it both physically and emotionally after you left."

"Really?" In a way, Sonic was grateful Amy wasn't hounding him time, but still didn't want it at the expense of her being injured.

After another brief pause, Sonic asked Tails out of the blue, "Just wondering, do you still want to live here?"

While Tails looked at him confused, Sonic added, "You know, after everything's happened I mean."

That question immediately put Tails into deep thought, as he didn't know what to say in response to it. He then said to Sonic after a few seconds, "I guess I can understand why you wouldn't to stay here anymore."

Sonic looked at the ground soon after this, saying, "I just can't stand to look at this place anymore and not feel sorrow and rage boiling inside of me."

Tails nodded his head, as Sonic added, "The fact Eggman slaughtered them here is more than I can handle. That's why I think we should find another place to live."

Tails did understand the blue hedgehog's feelings about this, but said to him, "I don't think it would be a good idea if we did though right now."

"Why's that?" Sonic inquired.

"Well, for starters, Amy's injured." Tails replied. "Where is she going to go to recover?"

Sonic unfortunately hadn't thought of that, as he was now in deep thought.

"Plus, I think we'd be more vulnerable to Eggman now if we tried to move." Tails concluded. "He wants us out in the open so we'll be easier to take down."

Sonic couldn't argue with this, eventually saying with another deep sigh, "I guess you're right about that."

"I think until things settle down, we should stay here, especially since this place can be a place of refuge for us for the time being." Tails suggested.

Sonic nodded his head, replying, "Ok then, we'll stay here for now."

Hearing that eased Tails' mind a bit, as he leaned it against the wall behind him, staring at the night sky again. He then said out of the blue softly without thinking, "I sure hope Kitty comes by to visit sometime."

Sonic glanced at him peculiarly and asked, "What did you say?"

Tails instantly began to blush deeply, as his face was now flushed red, stammering, "N-nothing."

"I thought I heard you mention something about Kitty." Sonic commented. "Did you?"

"N-n-no. O-f-f course not." Tails replied again, still deeply embarrassed. "Y-you just misheard me."

Sonic though knew better, saying to him while placing a hand on Tails' left shoulder, C'mon, you can tell me. I won't laugh."

"I rather not talk about it." Tails replied, still showing flushed cheeks "After all what's happened, it's a completely stupid idea on my part."

Sonic though could tell by the way he was talking, it really wasn't. So, he asked out of curiosity, "Do you like her alot?"

Tails' cheeks flushed an even darker red, replying, "N-n-no. I-I-I just like her as a friend is all."

But again, Sonic knew he wasn't being completely truthful with him, so he pressed the issue, saying firmly, "Tails, if we're going to be best buds, you need to honest with me here."

"I just can't be though on this matter." Tails answered. "The fact I even have these feelings in the first place is just so wrong. How can I even think about this after everything that's happened?"

Sonic though looked at him with a warm smile, saying, "It's ok, really. Just tell me the truth and I promise I won't laugh about it."

Tails still wasn't convinced, as he looked at the ground with deep hesitation. Sonic then asked him again, "Do you have strong feelings for her?"

Tails at first couldn't say it, as the whole idea was completely embarrassing him. But, he eventually said very softly, "Yes."

"Pardon?" Tails had said it so softly, Sonic could barely hear him.

"I… like her, Sonic. A lot actually." Tails then looked at him, feeling completely humiliated while adding, "There, I said it. You happy now?"

Sonic didn't know what to think of this, but deciding to keep his word, he replied, "It's ok if you do. I mean, she is a very cool person."

Tails though still felt complete shame, as Sonic asked, "You mind telling me why you do though? You got me curious."

Tails again was silent, as he just couldn't say it. But again, he forced the words out, saying, "It's just… She seemed to really care about me when I was grieving over the Thorndyke's. In fact, I almost got the feeling she was going through something painful of her own. I guess you could say having her there to hug me and help dry my tears just really moved me emotionally."

"I see…" Sonic was at a loss for words after hearing this. He then said after a brief pause, looking at him, "Well, I'm glad she was there to comfort you. In fact, I kind of felt guilty after leaving the mansion."

"Why did you by the way?" Tails inquired.

Sonic looked at the ground, feeling ashamed for doing it, but replied eventually, I just… couldn't handle what had happened." He then looked at Tails again, adding, "Seeing Chris dead in his room just broke me inside emotionally. I had to get out of there and gather my thoughts."

After hearing this, Tails understood completely, as that moment was very hard and devastating as well. He then said to Sonic out of the blue, "Could I ask you something?"

"Sure, shoot, bud."

"Do you…. uh…..like her alot too?" Tails couldn't ask this question without deep embarrassment.

"Like who?"

"You know…. Kitty."

Sonic's cheeks now were flushed a bit, as he replied, "Well, to be perfectly honest… not really."

As Tails looked at him perplexed, Sonic explained, "Don't get me wrong, she's ok and nice for a female G.U.N agent. But, she's just not my type. No Offense."

Tails understood, as he nodded his head in response. He then said to him, "Sonic?"

"Yea, bud?"

"How do I handle these feelings I have within me?"

"You mean for Kitty?" Sonic inquired.

Tails again nodded his head, adding, "I mean, I know she's too old for me and all, but I just can't help but feel strongly about her romantically. What do I do?"

Sonic didn't completely understand this, but replied, "Well, I think you should be honest with her about it, but just be her close friend. I mean, you'd be ok with that, right?"

"I guess so." Tails mumbled softly.

Deep down though, he felt like a liar inside, as he wanted more than that, but knew there was no chance of it happening, not to mention he felt it was completely inconsiderate for the moment as well.

The two of them soon were silent again, as Tails commented after a ten second pause, "I guess we better be heading inside. It's getting late."

"Yea, true." Sonic said.

The two of then turned away from looking at the sky and began to head inside. Before Sonic did though, he looked at the sky one last time while holding the door open, thinking firmly, _just you wait, Eggman. I'm going to end your reign of terror very soon. You will not get away with your vicious crime for much longer if I have anything to say about it._

The following morning, Kitty and Topaz returned to G.U.N HQ after a rigorous training session. Again, Kitty passed all the tests Topaz gave her with flying colors.

"I gotta say," Topaz commented, as they walked inside. "You're definitely more than qualified to be a G.U.N agent here."

Hearing those words put a smile on Kitty's face, as they were not easy at all to say the least.

"In fact, I think we could make a really good team too." Topaz added.

"Really?" Kitty then asked curiously with a smirk, "Even better than with Rouge?"

Topaz at first was hesitant to answer her question, but replied eventually, "Well, yea, I guess so."

Kitty had asked that just for her own personal satisfaction.

Topaz though added a few seconds later, "I mean, I still like working with Rouge. Granted, she can be a pain at times, but I think we seem to connect better as partners."

"I think that has a lot more to do with the fact we have the same mentality about this job." Kitty reiterated.

Topaz couldn't argue with that unfortunately.

Seconds later, the G.U.N Commander walked up to them, putting Topaz and Kitty on edge.

"Ah, there you are." Commander Tower said, stopping in front of them. "I've been meaning to talk with you."

"Is this about our training session, sir?" Kitty inquired hesitantly.

"No, no, I'm up to speed about that." The Commander replied to her, waving his right hand dismissively. "In fact, I'm very impressed with your progress so far."

Kitty now sighed a sigh of relief, as Commander Towers continued, "Actually, I wanted to talk to Agent Topaz."

"What about?" she asked puzzled.

"Well, I rather tell you in private." He reiterated. "It's very personal."

"You can tell me here, sir." Topaz told him. "I can handle it."

"I'm not sure you can." The Commander said softly. "In fact, that is the very reason why I wish to speak privately with you in the first place."

But Topaz persisted. "Commander, trust me, I can handle anything you tell me in public. I didn't sign on for this job for nothing."

"Are you sure you want agent Katswell to hear this too?" he inquired.

"She's my partner, sir" Topaz replied. "I don't think it's so personal she can't hear it as well."

Kitty nodded his head, but was confused as to what he was getting at.

The Commander decided not to push it, as he said, "Very well then."

He then put a hand on Topaz's right shoulder and told her, "I don't know how to tell you this, but I have some very bad news for you."

"What?" Topaz immediately felt her body heat go cold. Even Kitty knew by the way he was talking, it sounded very serious.

"You see, this morning, some people went to the Thorndyke's mansion this morning to check on them." The Commander explained. "But… when they went inside, they made a grave discovery."

Topaz now felt numb inside, as she could sense what he might be driving at.

The Commander held his head low, as he said to her, "The entire Thorndyke family was gruesomely murdered. The only survivors we found were their Mobian friends."

"What?" Topaz felt deep panic inside, as she asked, "Well, what about the cook and butler?"

The Commander unfortunately answered her question, as he shook his head softly, saying, "I'm sorry, agent Topaz, but they were found dead as well."

Instantly, Topaz's knees gave way, as she knelt on the ground in complete shock. Kitty on the other hand gasped in horror, putting her right hand in front of her face.

"Tanaka's… dead?" Topaz asked with a whimper.

"I'm afraid so." The Commander replied with sympathy. "He was found shot several times through the head."

In that moment, Topaz lost it emotionally, as she soon buried her hands in her faces and wept bitterly. Seeing this, the Commander said, "I'll leave you two alone now. I'm really sorry for what happened."

After he left the room, Kitty knelt beside Topaz and put her arm around the weeping G.U.N agent, trying to comfort her partner. Not surprisingly, Topaz didn't resist Kitty's sympathy.

At first, Kitty didn't know what to say, but eventually asked to break the ice, "Topaz, do you want some time alone now?"

Topaz replied with a deep sniffle, "No. In fact, I do appreciate you standing by my side."

Kitty softly patted her shoulder, saying softly, "Don't mention it."

Topaz then continued to weep for a few more minutes, as this news had broken her spirits to the point of total despair. While this was going on, Kitty couldn't help but feel more anger towards Eggman, as she knew he was responsible for this.

Then, out of the blue, Topaz stood up, now having a look of deep rage on her face. This response even surprised Kitty. Topaz then asked Kitty, "Eggman's responsible for this, wasn't he?"

Kitty nodded her head softly, explaining, "Eggman had sent his robots to invade the mansion and murder everyone inside."

"That monster…" Topaz could barely contain her emotions. Even Kitty could tell she was on the verge of exploding.

"I'll kill him for this…" she hissed. "It's bad enough he had to terrorize the city and G.U.N, but to take the one I loved most dearly to me without pity or remorse…

He…. will….. pay!"

Kitty knew by her body language, Topaz was dead serious about her intentions. So, she said, trying to calm her down, "I know you're enraged about this, and I don't blame you one bit, but you're going to have to control your emotions here."

As Topaz looked at Kitty intently, she said to her, trying to explain, "You can't fight on just pure rage. It will blind your judgment."

"So I'm supposed to just let him get away with this then?" Topaz shot back. "I thought you were my partner."

Kitty could tell Topaz was now starting to lash out at her, so she replied, trying to calm the waters, "Topaz, I want to get Eggman just as bad as you do, but even I know I won't succeed if I go out there all kamikaze like."

Hearing that settled Topaz down a bit, as Kitty continued, "The only way we will win is if we stay composed and strong, working together as a team."

Topaz knew deep down she was right, but she asked nonetheless, "How can I just put my grief aside so easily? This has deeply wounded me inside."

"I know it has." Kitty reiterated. "But I believe Eggman wanted to rattle us. In fact, I think he pulled off this all-out attack, if nothing else, but to deeply weaken the morale of G.U.N, as well as Central City."

Topaz couldn't argue with that logic, but still couldn't let her emotions go. Kitty could sense that in her partner, so she told her, "You must stay strong, Topaz. Don't let Eggman win this round."

Topaz though retorted angrily, "I can't just ignore this within me! Eggman murdered the man I loved!"

"I know he did." Kitty reiterated softly.

Topaz then lashed out, "Yea, It's easy for you to tell me to stay strong, when you never had something tragic happen in your life!"

Kitty was now silent, contemplating about what to say next.

"I'm not trying to be rude here." Topaz continued with watershed eyes. "But unless you had something horrible happen to you, you're in no position to tell how to handle this!"

Kitty knew she was right, as she was now in even deeper thought. She then said after a brief pause, "It's true, I haven't had a personal tragedy like this happen to me."

Before Topaz could reply to this, Kitty added, "But, I do know what it's like to lose something you hold dearly in life."

Topaz was now silent, as she heard Kitty say, "You see… I lost everything I had with my previous agency."

"How is that the same?" Topaz demanded. "That was just a job you had."

"No, it was more than that to me." Kitty explained. "The people I worked with there. They were like… family to me."

Kitty pulled out her picture of her former comrades at T.U.F.F, looking at it with a tear in her eye. After seeing this, Topaz felt some sympathy, eventually asking, "Were you really that close to them?"

Kitty nodded her head, as she replied with a sniffle, "I was indeed." She then pointed to each member, saying, "The Chief was like a father figure to me. Keswick… was very eccentric, but a nice fellow. And Dudley…"

Kitty's mind then flashed back, as she remembered all the times she and Dudley spent together. While he did drive her nuts and get on her nerves quite a bit, Kitty in a way was considered him a really good friend of hers.

In that moment, Kitty couldn't contain her emotions as well, as she soon began to weep softly inside, saying, "Why did I ever choose to leave you guys? You were all so good to me."

Topaz now realized Kitty did indeed understand her circumstances somewhat. Kitty then said with another sniffle, "And now, they all hate me."

"Do they really?" Topaz inquired curiously.

"Well, maybe except Dudley," Kitty replied softly. "But who's to say he hasn't forgotten about me by now?"

After seeing this, Topaz was no longer angry with Kitty about her speech. She then asked her, "Is that why you told me to stay strong, because you know it's the only way to handle your own personal loss?"

Kitty nodded her head, replying, "I know what happened to me was nowhere as bad as your circumstances, but it still hurt me very deeply inside. I basically have thrown myself into my work just to keep from thinking about it all time."

"I see…"

Topaz then surprised Kitty, as she hugged her tightly, saying, "Thanks for sharing that with me. I needed to hear that."

Kitty returned her embrace, replying, "Don't mention it."

After ten seconds, they let go, with Kitty saying to Topaz while looking her in the eye, "Together, we can right what Eggman has wronged. Are you with me?"

Topaz nodded her head with another sniffle, "You know it. Let's get to work."

And with those words, the two G.U.N agents got busy, preparing for the upcoming battle.

Later that night at Eggman's base, the mad scientist was putting the final touches on the blueprints of his new machine.

"Perfect. If this machine comes out as planned, "Eggman stated. "Sonic and that feline troublemaker won't know what hit em!"

He then put the designs away on a shelf, as he would start working on the machine in the morning. As he was preparing to leave the room and go to bed, he said to himself, "Now that leaves only one other question left unanswered. How do I lure those two into a well-conceived trap?"

"Maybe I can help you with that." A voice replied in the shadows.

"Who goes there?" Eggman demanded, turning around. "Show yourself!"

"Come now, there's no need for that." The voice replied again. "You know who it is."

When the mysterious person took a couple steps out of the shadows, Eggman instantly recognized who it was.

"YOU?"

"Who else, Doctor?"

"Why you rotten troublemaker!" Eggman lashed out, pointing a finger at it. "I oughta shoot you full of holes for your little stunt you pulled two days ago!"

"Well, I guess you could do that." it said composed.

As Eggman went to call his robots, the voice said again, "But you'd be wasting a great opportunity to take advantage of some info I have."

Eggman turned to look at her, demanding, "Oh yea? And what info would that be exactly?"

"You want to know more about that feline who helped defeat you earlier or not?"

"You mean you know who she is?" Eggman inquired.

"Of course. After all, I had to spend time with that goody two shoes feline, more than I would have liked to anyway."

"Ok, so what's her name then?" Eggman demanded.

"First things first." The shadowy figure replied. "If I'm going to help you, you're going to give me some form of compensation."

"What?" Eggman pointed a finger at the figure again, shouting, "You think you can come in here and demand payment just like that? Why I ought to…"

"Hey, for what I have to offer, I deserve something in return, something big too I might add."

Eggman growled loudly, but replied, "all right, fine! Let's hear this so called info of yours."

The shadowy figure then told him, "Her name is Kitty Katswell. She's a highly trained, very disciplined fighter. She formerly worked at T.U.F.F."

"So, her name is Kitty Katswell…" Eggman said to himself, putting a hand under his chin to think. "I got the fact she's a very skilled fighter. What else do you know about her?"

"Well, from what I could gather from her file at G.U.N," the figure continued. "She has mastered all forms of martial arts, and her claws I hear are registered as lethal weapons also."

"Really?" Eggman again put a hand under his chin and commented softly, "So that's why she was showing me them. She could have really scratched me up badly had I not defended myself."

He then said, waving his hand dismissively at the shadowy figure, "That's still not enough information for me to give you something in return. Be gone with you!"

"I'm just getting warmed up." it replied. "I heard you wanted to put them in a well-conceived trap. Well, I may have a solution to that dilemma to yours."

"Oh, yea, like what exactly?" Eggman demanded.

"Well, since you're after that Chaos Emerald that Sonic and Tails have…"

Eggman instantly did a double take, demanding, "How would you know about that? Are you constantly spying on me?"

The shadowy figure chuckled loudly, replying with a grin, "Please, are you forgetting who you're talking to here?"

Eggman crossed his arms with a huff, replying, "Never mind. So, tell me, what do you have you planned?"

"Well, why don't you send in a decoy machine towards the mansion?" it suggested.

"A decoy machine?"

"Yes, Eggman. You send in a machine that acts like it's on their side, but when it gets a Chaos Emerald within its power source, its personality will go berserk, instantly turning on them."

Eggman pondered this idea over, saying, "Interesting idea you have there. But that still doesn't explain what I can use to lure them into a trap."

"That's simple." The figure answered. "Have the machine kidnap one of the Sonic's friends. And then… put them in a room, one that will activate the new robot you're currently working on. There's no way they wouldn't fall for that."

"Hmm…" Eggman again pondered. "I suppose I could seal off the room, thus making it so they couldn't escape." He then snapped his fingers together, saying, "Ok, I like it, but what is this price you're asking for?"

At first, it didn't reply, but then said icily, "One Chaos Emerald."

"What? Why you little…"

"Ah, ah, ah…" the figure said, waving a finger at him. "If I help you get rid of Sonic and Kitty, then you'll be free to get the other six unhindered, am I right?" 

Eggman thought this over, still not convinced. "For that price, I really don't think one Chaos Emerald is asking too much." The figure told him.

Eggman growled loudly, but replied, "Very well then, but you will not get paid until they are taken out. Do you understand me?"

"Of course. So, do we have a deal?"

Eggman at first hesitated, but muttered to the shadowy figure, "We have a deal."

"Excellent. Now then, you get started on that new robot of yours while I go set the trap."

The shadowy figure then left, disappearing into the shadows. After it was out of sight, Eggman chuckled to himself, "Foolish bounty hunter. If she thinks she's outsmarted me this time, she's in for a very rude awakening. Little does she realize, I too have ways of dealing with two-timing, connivers like herself."

Not surprisingly, the shadowy figure also had a counter plan. _Eggman will more than likely double cross me once I give him what he wants. So, I'll just play along for now, making him think he has the upper hand. When in reality, I'll be the one who will be holding the aces._

The following afternoon at Central City Park, the memorial service for the Thorndyke's, along with Helen and Tanaka was held. Due to the Thorndyke's being rich and having a large influence within Central City, many people showed up to attend.

Sonic, along with Tails, Amy and Cream showed up as well. Even Kitty and Topaz came, as they knew this was more important than training for the time being.

The President addressed the large crowd, as he gave the eulogy for those who were lost.

"My fellow citizens… I know no words can describe your emotional state right now. What Eggman did to all of us was beyond despicable. It was… a sick and completely sadistic plan on his part."

Amy, along with Cream wore black dresses out of respect for their fallen friends. Even Topaz wore one, with a veil over her head. As Kitty later found out, they had been engaged, and were to be wed within three months.

"What I ask of you is to not let this tragedy break your spirits to the point of complete despair. Instead, we must bond together, become unified, and work to rebuild what was so cruelly taken from us."

Those in the audience mostly agreed with his words, as they nodded their heads in approval. A few however showed their displeasure with their body language, as they still were angry that G.U.N was completely unable to do anything about Eggman's assault.

The President then continued, "I promise you, citizens of Central City… Eggman will pay dearly for his crimes against us. Commander Tower will have G.U.N launching an all-out attack at his base very soon. And I personally will see to it that Eggman will be killed during the assault. Mark my words… His days are numbered. The deaths of the Thorndyke's, their staff, and the rest of those who died will be avenged!"

Most of the citizens clapped in approval of his speech, although alot of them deep down were not sure it could be done.

"Now then, let us give our departed friends a proper sendoff."

The President then turned to the coffins near the stage, and said saluting them, "Farewell. You will be dearly missed, but never forgotten."

The citizens again clapped in approval in this, as they felt the President handled the matter with respect and integrity.

Sonic though, did not clap once during the service, as he thought to himself, _talk is cheap, Mr. President. It's time for action now!_

Soon after this, the coffins were taken the cemetery and laid to rest in a hole dug earlier. Once they were in the ground, most of the crowd went there to pay their final respects. Afterwards, they began to disperse, till there was hardly anyone left.

Sonic and his friends however stayed behind, as they decided to pay their respects more personally. Even Kitty and Topaz stayed as well. Topaz at this point took off her veil, as she decided to not have it obstruct her view any longer.

A minute later, as Kitty saw Sonic and the others kneeling near the grave site, she heard someone say, "Well, I figured I find you here."

Kitty turned around, and saw it was none other than Rouge herself. The feline agent though frowned at her, saying, "What are you doing here, Rouge?"

"What, I can't pay my respects too?" she inquired icily.

"If that's so true, why didn't I see you at the memorial service?" Kitty demanded.

Rouge shrugged her shoulders, replying, "I was near the back. These kinds of services aren't really something I like to get upclose and personal with."

Kitty however didn't buy that explanation, as she couldn't but sense Rouge had ulterior motives for being there.

The seductive bat then said to Kitty, "Look, I think this silly fight of ours has gone on long enough. Why don't we bury the hatchet and call a truce?"

Kitty though arched her eyebrows, replying, "Really? After threatening you'd get revenge on me, you now all of a sudden you want to want to become friends? I don't believe that one bit."

"Well, aren't you the grudge holder." Rouge commented with a frown. "Here I am trying to move on from our little fight, and you just act like I'm trying to stab you in the back again."

"Because that's what you do best!" Kitty retorted sharply, pointing a finger at her. "I've been around you too long to believe you all of a sudden changed and are now going to play nice!"

Cream then tugged Kitty's leg by her pant leg near the knee, saying softly to her with humble eyes, "Please don't be so suspicious of Rouge, Miss Katswell. I believe she really is trying to make up with you."

Hearing that softened Kitty up, though she still was deeply suspicious inside. Nonetheless, she said just to make the small rabbit feel better, "Very well, Rouge. I'll accept your truce, as long of course as you mean business."

"Of course I do." Rouge replied with a straight face. "I wouldn't do this if I wasn't genuine."

But again, Kitty didn't believe a word of it.

Moments later, Rouge said to Topaz with sympathy, "I'm really sorry to hear what happened to your fiancé. What Eggman did to Tanaka was so wrong on his part."

Kitty however could sense Rouge was not being 100% sincere about her condolences. Nonetheless, Topaz thanked the manipulating bat for her words.

After a brief pause, Rouge added, "Well, I hate to go so soon, everyone, but I must be off."

"Already?" Kitty arched her eyebrows again, saying, "You sure didn't stay long."

"Sorry, but I have things to do." Rouge replied.

"Such as?"

"Like, getting ready for the upcoming raid at Eggman's base for starters." Rouge answered. "What, you didn't hear that part?"

"Yea, I heard it." Kitty retorted. "I'm just wondering you can't even take a break for now to show pay your respects for the deceased." 

"I told you, these kinds of places really aren't my thing." Rouge explained, now starting to get annoyed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must be off. Ta Ta."

Rouge then flapped her wings and took off. As she did, Kitty thought to herself with frown, _that bat's up to something. I just know it. There's no way she came here just for a friendly truce._

But before she could think it over too much, she glanced to her left, and saw Sonic and the others still standing near the freshly dug graves. Kitty then walked over to them, where Tails was now kneeling near Chris' dug hole, looking inside of it.

Kitty slowly walked over to two tailed fox on the left side, as she felt deep sympathy for what he had gone through earlier.

She then said to him softly "Hey, Tails. How you doing?"

"Ok, I guess." He replied with a sniffle.

Kitty also looked in the hole a few seconds later, as she couldn't help but glance at it herself.

She then looked back at Tails, as she saw he was breaking up inside again emotionally. Seeing this, Kitty placed her right hand on his left shoulder, though saying nothing to him. Tails immediately noticed her comforting touch, but didn't even bother to resist her gesture of kindness. He then said to her after a minute of silence softly while clutching her hand around both of his, "Thank you, Kitty."

Tails soon looked up at her with tears still in his eyes, saying with grateful expression on his face, "You really have no idea how much I appreciate your support."

In that moment, Kitty couldn't help but melt emotionally. To see him somewhat comforted by her actions made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Sonic then walked up on the right side, as he now looked inside Chris' hole himself. He soon said softly with a sigh while squatting, "Chris… I'm really sorry I couldn't save you in time. I hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive me someday."

Tails quickly spoke up and replied with a sniffle, "If I know Chris, I'm sure he already has, Sonic."

Sonic again sighed, adding, "I hope you're right about that. I really do."

Hearing Tails use her words to comfort Sonic made Kitty feel good inside a second time, as she could tell his broken heart was already starting to mend some already.

Kitty then excused herself, as she walked towards Topaz, who was gazing intently at Tanakan's coffin within his dug hole while also kneeling. The feline agent asked her once she was standing on her right side, "You going to be ok, Topaz?"

Topaz sniffled loudly, replying, "No, not for awhile. For now, the pain of losing him is going to be very hard to deal with."

Kitty nodded her head, as she said to her with sympathy in her voice, "I know. But, we must press on and give it our all to defeat Eggman in order to honor his memory."

Topaz again sniffled loudly, saying with a nod, "True. I just hope I don't fall apart in the meantime."

Kitty put her hand on Topaz's left shoulder, telling her, "As long as we turn to each other for strength in this time of sorrow, I know we can do it."

Hearing her words again deeply comforted Topaz, as she turned to Kitty and said with a nod, "You're right. She then held onto the top of Kitty's hand firmly in a unified gesture, saying, "Partners to the end?"

Kitty nodded her head firmly, replying, "Partners to the end."

Kitty was then startled a bit, as Sonic and Tails walked up to them, and quickly placed their hands on top of theirs, with the blue hedgehog saying boldly, "Same here. Partners to the end."

Even Amy joined in, with Cream standing close by while she placed her hand on theirs as well. They were all united now with one simple goal in mind… To finally rid the world of Eggman.

Whether or not they would be able to do it though was yet to be determined.

Only time would tell….


	10. A Tale of 2 Emerls Part 1

Back at Eggman's lab, the mad doctor was preparing to carry his new plan, thanks to a little help from an unexpected source.

"I think I know just the robot to use for this little experiment of mine." Eggman said to himself with a chuckle.

He then went into one of his supply closets, pulling out a small gray colored robot and placing it on one of his tables.

"I had a feeling this machine might come in handy." Eggman stated with a grin.

Eggman gathered his data sheet he had printed from the machine earlier when he first found it, saying, "If any machine can turn on someone, it's this one." As it turned out, the machine had negative reactions to increased energy sources, such as Chaos Emeralds.

He then grabbed some of his tools and began to modify the small robot. What he had in mind was none other than have it respond positively to high pitched voices. In other words, Cream's.

"Since my other machines really take an interest in her," Eggman concluded. "I'll have this one do likewise. Then, when she fully trusts the machine, I'll wait until Sonic and Tails are stupid enough to try and power it up with their Chaos Emerald that they have. And when they do… BAM! They'll never know what hit em." Eggman had slammed his right fist on top of his left one as a gesture of conquest, laughing heartily in response.

After he settled down, Eggman cleared his throat and put a hand under his chin to think, saying firmly, "I'll just need to make one more modification to make sure it still is under my control."

Eggman then attached an override to its console, commenting, "This way, the machine will respond to my commands no matter what."

Once it was installed, Eggman grinned with evil delight, rubbing his hands together, saying, Perfect. I'll have it fly to the mansion in the morning, hiding in an obscure location for those meddlesome rodents to find."

10 seconds later, Eggman walked away, saying, "Ok, now to get one of my other machines ready as its opponent, one that will make them believe it's on their side."

Unknown to Eggman however, the same mysterious figure had been listening in to his conversation the whole time, hiding deep in the shadows.

_So… Eggman has an override command module for that robot of his, eh? _

The figure put a hand under its chin, thinking deeply. _I think this may just be my ticket to derailing Eggman's so called plans._

The shadowy figure then walked over to the small robot, scanning the module Eggman had placed on the machine with a special spy device in hand. The device was none other than scanning the computer technology Eggman was using to control the robot.

After the scan was complete, the figure said, "Perfect. "

With the program data in hand, the person in the shadows left the building in a hurry.

_Now to take this back to HQ and hack it. Once I figure out its code, I can take complete control of this thing, even overriding Eggman's device as well. _

The next morning at the Thorndyke's home, Sonic and Tails got busy to prepare for the upcoming battle with Eggman. By this time, Amy had recovered enough that she was physically able to train as well. She had told Sonic after they had returned to the mansion that she was going to help out in the battle with Eggman. Even when Sonic showed deep concern for this decision of hers, Amy still wouldn't back down.

"I'm starting to get the feeling you don't want me out there." Amy told him, putting her hands at her waist with a frown.

"Amy, it's has nothing to do with that." Sonic replied. "But let's not forget, you were seriously injured by Eggman's E-100 robots not even three days ago."

"I don't care about that!" She stated firmly. "I want to help and see Eggman's downfall."

Kitty unfortunately tried to reason with her, saying, "I think Sonic has a point here. That was a pretty serious wound you ended up with."

Amy then glared at the feline agent, saying with a bit of annoyance in her voice, "Oh, is that really the only reason you think I shouldn't be out on the battlefield?"

"Well… yea." Kitty answered with hesitation. "I mean, if that wound gets reopened, you could lose a lot more blood."

Amy though just glared at her even more intently, saying angrily, "I think you're just using that as an excuse to keep me away."

Kitty looked at Amy, deeply confused and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, don't play dumb with me." Amy told her firmly. "I can clearly see you have ulterior motives here."

Tails then spoke up and said sternly, "That was uncalled for, Amy. You know Kitty's only looking out for you."

"Ha! More like she wants Sonic all to herself so she can flirt with him without any hindrances." Amy retorted, crossing her arms tightly. "What, you think I was born yesterday?"

That statement made both Kitty and Sonic blush heavily, as the blue hedgehog stated with deep embarrassment, "Amy, that has got to be the craziest accusation I ever heard you make."

"Yea." Kitty reiterated. "I have no interest in him that way at all. I just want to help Sonic and the rest of you guys defeat Eggman."

But again, Amy didn't believe her story. "And it's because you two are in complete denial is why I believe it to be true."

By this time, Kitty put a hand on her face, letting out a mild groan, as she realized she was getting nowhere with Amy. _This girl has some real serious jealousy issues._

Sonic then attempted to calm the waters, as he told her, "Amy, look, I'll make you a deal with you."

"What kind of deal?" Amy inquired with deep suspicion.

"If you promise not to accuse Kitty of this nonsense of yours anymore, I'll… take you out on a date after the battle is over."

Amy's face instantly brightened up, saying, "You really mean that?"

Sonic now cringed tightly after he realized what he had just said, but replied, "Err… yea, as long as you agree to my terms of course."

Amy didn't waste any time thinking it over, as she ran over and hugged Sonic very tightly, squealing with delight, "Of course, Sonikku! I'll do anything if it means a date with you!"

Sonic now swallowed hard, thinking to himself, _Ah_,_ great. What have I gotten myself into?_

Amy then took one last verbal jab at Kitty, as she stuck her tongue at her in a triumphant matter. Kitty though just ignored it, shaking her head with another hand placed on her forehead.

Sonic's mind flashed back to the present, as he thought of this while doing his running exercises, _I hope I did the right thing in letting her join us. She's still not 100% health wise._

Ten minutes later, He returned to the mansion, where he found Tails tinkering with the X-Tornado. He then walked up to him, saying, "Hey, bro. How's it coming?"

"Eh, not too bad." Tails replied, while underneath the X-Tornado, working on the engine component. "After I give the jet engine a tune up, I'm going to try and see if I can install some major weapons onto the wings to use against Eggman's base.

"Really?" Sonic said with intrigue. "What kind of weapons did you have in mind?"

"Well, I'm kind of torn right now of trying to decide whether to outfit it with missiles to shoot, or just install a powerful laser weapon instead."

Sonic put a hand under his chin to think. After contemplating it for five seconds, he replied, "Well, why not do both?"

Tails looked up at him and replied firmly, "That's going to be very difficult thing to do. I really don't have room to outfit it with both."

"I guess you do have a point there." Sonic said, shrugging his shoulders.

Tails then asked out of the blue, "So, you think Kitty will come by to visit again sometime?"

Sonic chuckled at his question, stating with a grin, "Boy, you must really like her a lot to want to take time out of your schedule to chat instead of working on your aircraft."

Tails now deeply blushed inside, telling him, "Sonic, I already told you. I'm just going to be good friends with her. I know deep down there's no chance of me and Kitty being together. And, I'm ok with that for now." Tails then added under his breath, "Maybe when I'm older though…"

"Huh, did you say something?" Sonic inquired.

"N-n-no." Tails replied stammering. "I was just talking to myself about the jet."

Sonic though had a feeling he was lying about it, but decided to not to push the matter again, as he knew how deeply embarrassed his young bro was about when talking about Kitty.

Tails meanwhile continued his work on his jet, as Sonic began chuckling to himself, saying to Tails, "Man, can you believe Amy actually thought Kitty and me were an item, or even getting friendly with each other? I tell ya, that was just hilarious thinking on her part."

Tails chuckled back in response, though more with hesitation than anything, as he commented, "Well, you do know how much Amy doesn't like any female cutting in on her turf, so I'm not really surprised."

"Yea, I know that." Sonic stated firmly. "But I never even made any implications I liked Kitty that way or visa-versa. There was no reason for Amy to even suspect me of flirting with another female."

"True." Tails answered. "I bet it's for that reason why you never made a move on Amy since she's so possessive of you."

"You got that right." Sonic muttered. "I actually wish Amy would let me breathe once in a while without feeling the need to cling to me every chance she gets. I probably would like her more if she did."

"Oh, are you trying to say you do like her more than you let on?" Tails ribbed.

"No, I do not." Sonic reiterated firmly while crossing her arms. "Don't get me wrong, I do like her as a friend, but until she actually learns to trust me more and lets our friendship grow without smothering me all the time, I don't see any chance of us ever being a couple."

Tails though just chuckled at this response, as he thought Sonic was also embarrassed about displaying his feeling publicly.

While this was going on, Kitty finally arrived, as she decided to visit them. Since Topaz was still too emotionally shaken up to train for the day, and Kitty had mastered just about training exercise Topaz had given her, the feline agent felt this was the best time to get to know Sonic and his friends better, not to mention help develop chemistry as comrades.

As she walked towards the mansion, she saw Cream in the front yard picking flowers, though not exactly with a smile on her face, as the events from before still affected her emotionally.

Kitty then greeted the young rabbit, saying while walking up to her, "Hey, Cream, how you doing?"

Cream turned around and replied with a halfhearted smile, "Oh, hello, Miss Katswell."

Kitty knelt down on knee and told Cream at her eye level, "You know, you don't have to be so formal with me. You can call me Kitty if you want."

Cream was in deep thought now, as she replied softly, "Oh, ok then. I was just trying to be respectful since my Mom always said to be courteous to adults."

Kitty couldn't help but smile at this, as she patted her head, saying, "You must have a wonderful Mother to take after her at such a young age."

"Yea…" Cream then lost her train of thought, replying with a deep sigh, "But I haven't seen her for a while."

Kitty looked at the young rabbit confused, asking her, "You mean you haven't seen your Mom since coming here?"

Cream softly nodded her heard, saying with a sniffle, "No, unfortunately not. We've been separated since that weird accident at Eggman's base."

At this point, Kitty felt deep sympathy for her, as she hugged Cream tightly, saying softly, "Aw, I'm sorry, honey." She then told her with confidence, "But don't worry. We'll find a way to get you to see your Mom soon."

"I hope so." Cream replied softly. "I sure miss her now after all that's happened."

Seeing the sadness on Cream's face added to Kitty's determination to make right what Eggman had wronged all the more. The feline agent then excused herself a few seconds later, giving Cream one last pat on the head, as she went to see how Sonic and Tails were doing.

_The poor child. _Kitty thoughtwhile she walked. _Hopefully there will be a way to reunite her with her Mom soon. _Kitty though began to wonder what Cream had meant by "accident." _What exactly happened anyway? _

Kitty would have given this more thought, but since there were more pressing issues at hand, she would think about this later.

Within ten seconds, she found Sonic and Tails, as they still were chatting with each other.

"Hey, guys." She greeted warmly while walking towards them.

Sonic soonsaw her and waved at her, saying, "Hey, Kitty."

Tails though didn't say anything to Kitty, but just waved at her too with a big smile on his face.

"So, how's it going?" She inquired.

"Eh, ok, I guess." Tails replied. "Trying to get the X-Tornado ready for battle."

Kitty watched him at work, soon commenting, "Sounds good."

Sonic then spoke up, telling her, "Uh, listen, Kitty. I'm sorry about Amy's antics yesterday."

"Ah, don't worry about it." she told him with a slight smile. "I can tell she's very crazy about you."

"More like obsessed." Sonic muttered.

Kitty stifled a giggle at that statement of his, putting a hand in front of her face while doing so.

"It's not funny." He told her with a frown while crossing his arms together.

"It is a little you have to admit." Kitty said, still giggling inside.

Even Tails was chuckling to himself about this. Sonic though just sighed heavily and shook his head with a slight groan.

Sonic finally said to them after five seconds of them ribbing him, "All right, enough of this silly talk. We got a battle to prepare for, don't we?"

"Yes, we do." Kitty replied, now composing herself. She then turned to Sonic, asking, "Just curious though, where is she by the way? I haven't seen that girl since I've been here."

Sonic shrugged his shoulders, saying, "Eh, Amy went out for a jog to get herself ready to go for the upcoming G.U.N raid. She should be back in a bit."

"I see…" Kitty now glanced at Tails and asked him, "So, do you have a plan ready to go?"

"Not quite." Tails answered, now crawling out from underneath the X-Tornado. "But I do have some ideas in mind."

"Sounds good, let hear them." Kitty said with a smirk.

Just then, a large shadow from above engulfed them, making them all turn around startled. What made the shadow was none other than Eggman's latest machine.

"You don't need formulate a plan." Eggman taunted them from a radio device attached to his robot, "especially since I already have one for you."

"Oh yea, and what's that exactly?" Sonic demanded, crossing his arms together.

"Simple, you just die!" Eggman retorted, soon laughing heartily afterwards

Kitty then glared at the large robot, replying with her fists clinched while in a fighting pose, "Why don't you follow your own advice for a change, you sadistic madman?"

Eggman though just blew her off, saying, "I don't have time to verbally spar with you today, Kitty Katswell."

Kitty almost did a double take, demanding, "How did you know my name, Doctor? I never told you it."

While this was going on, Cream was walking around the bushes, still picking flowers. She then noticed something metal from within of them, making her very curious and intrigued.

"That's classified information." Eggman replied firmly. "But enough talk. Now face the wrath of my new robot, the super E-2000."

At this point, Kitty felt hesitant and a bit nervous inside, as she unfortunately didn't bring any weapons with her.

Sonic though wouldn't back down, telling the mad scientist firmly with arrogance. "Please… that robot of yours will be a cinch for me to take down."

"Ha! Dream on, rodent!" Eggman fired back. "Because now I've now made some impressive modifications to it. You won't find it so easy to beat this time!"

Sonic took those words as a challenge, replying, "Very well then. Let's see what your so called gizmo can do!"

And with those words, the battle was on.

Sonic then revved up his legs and sped towards the E-2000 at full speed. As he continued to close in, he quickly spin into a ball and hit it right on the head. But unfortunately for him, the moment he went to attack with a homing spin dash, the E-2000 instantly blocked it with its thick metal shield. Sonic's attack was completely negated, as he didn't even scratch up the paint.

Kitty looked on a bit baffled, as Sonic soon landed on the ground after being deflecting off, muttering, "Oh, a tough machine, eh?" He again revved his legs, saying firmly, "Well, I have ways of dealing with nuisances like yourself!"

Within seconds, Sonic attacked the E-2000 again with fury, as he spin dashed the E-2000 over and over in an attempt to damage it. But no matter where he tried to hit it, the E-2000 blocked his attempts with ease, as it moved its shield all over to block the blue hedgehog's offensive assault from all angles.

Forty five seconds into this, Eggman finally began to laugh heartily through the radio.

"Pathetic, vermin!" He scoffed. "I told you wouldn't be able to defeat it so easily!"

Kitty at this point was completely stunned while watching. _How on earth is that thing about to withstand all those attacks without so much as a dent?_

Sonic though used his words as incentive, attacking with yet another spin dash. This time though, Eggman had his machine attack back. Once Sonic got close enough for its tastes, the E-2000 countered with perfect timing, using its shield to smack Sonic hard onto the ground.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted with concern.

Sonic was sent twenty feet backwards, landing a couple feet in front of Kitty and the two tailed fox.

"So much for your fighting ability." Eggman taunted him icily. "Why don't you just give up and surrender already?"

"Sonic, are you ok?" Kitty had been trying to help him get back on his feet during that taunt, which set the blue blur off. He instantly stood up with fierce rage in his eyes.

"I'm done playing around, Eggman!" Sonic shouted, with his fist clinched. "Now I'm gonna toast your little machine!"

Eggman again laughed at him heartily, retorting, "Really? Well, let's see you do it then, big mouth!"

Kitty then tried to reason with him, saying, "Sonic, you can't beat it alone. We're going to have to work together."

Sonic though would have no part of her words, as he again blasted off towards the E-2000.

"No, Sonic, don't!" Kitty pleaded, extending her hand out towards him. But again, he wouldn't listen.

As the blue hedgehog edged closer to his foe, Eggman again chuckled to himself. _So, he still wants to play, eh? Well, fine by me!_

At this point, Eggman decided to quit messing around and let Sonic have it, and hit him with both barrels. This time, Sonic decided to confuse the robot by spinning around it in circles.

_Oh, so he's going to try that little stunt again, eh? _Eggman pondered with a grin._ Well, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me._

Eggman wouldn't be the fool against Sonic's strategy this time around, as he baited him, having his robot pretend to get confused by the constant spinning around it. Soon after this, Eggman set the trap, as he made his robot look dazed and stunned by this move on Sonic's part.

Seeing this, Sonic chuckled to himself, saying, "I got it now."

Seconds later, Sonic attempted to blast it to bits, now charging up for a light speed dash. But as he did this, Eggman quickly went to attack.

Kitty instantly saw the E-2000 charge towards Sonic while he was powering up, yelling towards him, "Sonic, look out!"

Sonic thankfully managed to hear her warning, but it was too little late. The blue hedgehog was smacked yet again with its shield, sending him fifteen feet high in the air.

"Sonic!"

Kitty and Tails were unfortunately helpless to help during this assault, as the E-2000 now went all out on him. Within seconds, Eggman's machine fired its lasers at the blue hedgehog, hitting him in the chest and leg left, inflicting serious burns to his body. Then, in a finishing move, the E-2000 transformed into a plane, quickly flying towards the seriously stunned hedgehog while in midair, smacking him a second time towards the ground.

At this point, both Kitty and Tails looked on with panic on their faces. Kitty even tried to catch Sonic before he hit the ground, but was not able to, missing him by three feet. Sonic slid onto the ground in a heap, now seriously stunned.

Kitty quickly tried to help him up, saying with fear in her voice, "Sonic, are you all right?"

While Sonic tried to regain his focus, Eggman laughed again heartily at them after the E-2000 landed on the ground back in its robot form, saying, "What a joke you are! And to think you call yourself a hero. You're nothing but an arrogant showoff!"

Back in the flower garden, Cream finally found what had intrigued her from before, as she saw a silver looking machine. Normally, any robot would have traumatized her after the E-100's massacre, but this one did not make her the least bit frightened. Instead, it made her feel safe, even somewhat secure.

"What kind of machine is this?" Cream pondered to herself. "Is it really friendly?"

Kitty meanwhile glared angrily at the E-2000, as Eggman continued, "Now then, I think it's only appropriate you surrender to me this moment, Sonic, since I've clearly beaten you."

Not being able to stand it any longer, Kitty shot back, pointing at him with her right hand, "Never, Eggman! We'll fight you to the end before even thinking about surrendering to a creep like you!"

Eggman smirked at her retort, saying, "Well, aren't you one to talk? You haven't done a thing to help out your little friend here, and yet you run your mouth like you can do better yourself."

Those words deeply infuriated the feline agent. Sonic meanwhile finally stood up, though very dazed at the moment.

"Last chance, vermin!" Eggman challenged. "Surrender to me this instant or face the full wrath of my E-2000!"

Kitty would have said something in response to this threat, but Sonic did it for her this time, saying, "As she already told you, Eggbelly, we're fighting you to the end, so just deal with it!"

"Very well then!" Eggman roared. "It's your funeral."

Sonic then turned to Kitty and Tails, saying softly, "I hate to ask this, but you mind helping me out?"

"With pleasure." Kitty replied firmly.

"Same here." Tails added, smacking his fists together. "Let's toast that machine of Eggman's!"

Seeing all three of them united now didn't deter Eggman's enthusiasm the least little bit. "It doesn't matter if you work together or not. You're still going to be annihilated when it's all said and done!"

With his moxie back, Sonic retorted, "We'll see about that, Egghead!"

Now the real battle would begin.

Moments later, the E-2000 attacked the three of them with fury, firing multiple lasers from its arm cannon. But it missed its target, as they were able to evade its attack with ease, leaping away of the lasers' range, soon charging towards the E-2000, except for Tails, who was using his two tails to fly instead.

"We'll have to flank this thing in order to wear it down." Kitty told them as she ran.

"Sounds good to me." Sonic replied firmly. "Let's do it to it."

As they drew closer to the E-2000, it again fired multiple lasers at them with speed and power, determined to take them out. But again, they were able to evade due to their high agility. Sonic zigzagged around the attacks while Kitty did a few frontal flips. With Tails being in midair, he just changed direction while flying.

"Tails, help me draw its fire so we can give Sonic a clean shot at it." Kitty instructed.

"Can do, Kitty." Tails replied with a sly grin.

Within seconds, the two of them put the plan into action, as Kitty and Tails began to bait Eggman's E-2000 into attacking them. Not surprisingly, it took the bait. Once Kitty was close enough, it quickly fired several lasers at her in attempt to take her down. But again, it missed, as Kitty was agile enough to evade, leaping into the air and somersaulting past its ammo. When the E-2000 turned around to attack her, Tails then flew near its face to confuse Eggman's machine.

As planned, the E-2000 fired lasers now at Tails, trying to shoot him down. While Tails kept the machine busy, Kitty shouted at Sonic, who had been close by the whole time, "Now!"

Sonic instantly responded, quickly spinning into a ball and attacking the robot from behind. With its shield down, the blue hedgehog easily damaged Eggman's machine, slamming it hard onto the ground flat on its back.

As it tried to get up, Sonic's confidence, along with the others was now very high.

"Oh, yea!" Sonic said pumped up. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Eggman meanwhile growled at their recent tactic, shouting through the audio device once his machine was righted. "Very clever, furballs, but you won't get away with that so easily the next time!"

"Want to bet?" Kitty challenged.

"Just try your luck!" Eggman dared. "My E-2000 is more advanced than you think it is! A cheap shot like that won't get you very far in the long run!"

"Save your big speeches for after you've beaten us." Sonic retorted. "It's battle time now."

Eggman let out a small, "Humph!" adding, "So be it! Prepare for another painful lesson, blue boy!"

Seconds later, the E-2000 again attacked them again with multiple laser shots, but this time even faster than before. Nonetheless, that didn't deter them one bit. Sonic then spoke up, suggesting as he ran towards it, "Let me lead the charge this time, while you two back me up."

"Fine by me." Kitty replied, now filled with adrenaline.

Sonic did just that, as he began to run around the robot again, trying to confuse it. Like before, the E-2000 wouldn't be fooled by running around it a bunch. It soon adjusted to this move, preparing to smack Sonic aside with its shield again.

But when it went to hit him, Kitty made her move, as she quickly did a few frontal flips again, now landing right top of the machine's head. Instantly, the E-2000 attempted to take the feline agent down, firing many lasers at her. But again, it was interrupted, as Tails quickly got in its face a second, soon hovering above it from the back side.

Again, the E-2000 took the bait, as it went to blast Tails out of the air. That's when Sonic made his move, as he finally stopped spinning around it and went to attack, this time charging up a light speed dash. With Tails able to keep it a busy, evading its lasers without too much difficulty, Sonic got more than enough time to charge up.

Seconds later, Sonic unleashed his attack, hitting the E-2000 with speed and power on its legs, sending it over twenty feet high in the air, where it soon crashed onto the ground hard, even putting a small hole in the grass. By now, the E-2000 had received serious damage to its interior.

Kitty, who had lept off of the robot before Sonic attacked it, said with a victorious expression on her face after landing on the ground, "Oh yea, we got it on the run now!"

At this point, Eggman had finally lost its cool. "That does it!" he shouted, after the E-2000 righted itself again. "I've had it with your cheap shots! Now you're going to pay in spades!"

"Aw, what's the matter, Eggbelly?" Sonic taunted. "Can't handle the fact your machine isn't so super after all?"

"Just keep gloating, you arrogant rodent." Eggman fired back. "You'll get what's coming to you soon enough!"

"Look in the mirror if you want to see arrogance. " Kitty retorted.

At this moment, Eggman realized he had to change strategies. His E-2000 was sadly being worn down by their combined efforts. _Well, since Sonic is the only one who can do any damage to me at the moment, I'll just have my machine ignore the other two._

Eggman then pressed a few buttons from his control panel, giving new orders to the E-2000.

Meanwhile, Kitty said to Tails, "Ok, you lead the charge this time. We'll be right behind you."

"Will do." Tails replied firmly. Deep down, he felt honored she had asked him to do this.

Seconds later, Tails flew towards the E-2000, ready to bait it a third time.

_Ok, here's my chance to impress her with my skills. _Tails thought to himself. _tails, don't let me down._

As he flew closer, the E-2000 prepared to counter his strategy. Tails then got in his face, daring it to attack yet again. But to Tails surprise, it didn't seem to bite this time, perplexing him inside.

Kitty again leaped on top of its head to bait it as well. But again, it didn't try to attack her, confusing the feline agent as well.

Sonic meanwhile prepared to be within striking distance and attack when its back was turned. However, he got a huge jolt instead. While he was running around it, the E-2000 immediately targeted him, firing a huge laser blast in front of him. Sonic was instantly knocked backwards to the ground, seriously stunned.

"Sonic!" Kitty and Tails were completely dumbfounded by the E-2000 sudden change in behavior.

Eggman then scoffed at Sonic while he picked himself off the ground, "Ha! So much for boasting you could beat my machine. I told you this wouldn't be easy."

Sonic though was undeterred by this sneak attack, as she stood up, countering, "I'm just getting started, Robotnik. Watch and weep!"

Sonic instantly ran towards the E-2000 again, with Eggman retorting at him, "You're going to be the one who will be weeping when it's all said and done, Sonic, if you're still alive that is."

Kitty meanwhile said to Tails, "C'mon, we gotta get this machine's attention somehow."

Tails nodded his head, quickly springing into action.

Determined to get it to bite, Kitty used a few karate kicks on the E-2000's metal head. But again, it would not budge. All it did was give her a bit of a sore foot. Tails even tried get in its face again to block its view of Sonic. Unfortunately for the two tailed fox though, the E-2000 did respond, but only by heavily smacking Tails with its metal arm.

"Tails!" Sonic shouted with horror, running towards him. Tails was sent crashing violently through the garage door, where the X-Tornado was being kept, putting a large hole in the door.

Kitty looked on deeply horrified, but soon became enraged, shouting after getting off the E-2000, "All right, you twisted machine! You're going to pay for that!"

Eggman though chuckled at Kitty's flustered expression, taunting, "What's the matter, Agent Katswell? Can't handle the fact you don't have the upper hand this time?"

By this time, Kitty was really regretting not having a weapon on hand. Nonetheless, she countered, "I still can beat you, even without an advantage."

"Then why don't you show me already, big mouth?" Eggman dared.

Kitty instantly attacked after his taunt, as she tried to attack with a few more martial moves to its head and chest. But again, her attacks did nothing, only bruising up her hands and feet instead.

Tired of watching her futile attempts, Eggman unleashed his wrath on her. Instantly the E-2000 grabbed by her the neck during one of her flying karate kicks, even cutting off part of her windpipe.

As she struggled to get free, Eggman said to her firmly "Now then, get a load of this!"

Within seconds, the E-2000 tossed in the air about seven feet and then smacked her hard with its shield, hitting her directly in the chest. Kitty was instantly sent flying higher into the air as a result of this move. The E-2000 then injured her further, as he fired multiple lasers at her body, hitting both shoulders, even zapping one to her right knee. Then, as a finishing move, the E-2000 again transformed into a plane, as it flew towards her, smacking one last time on the back towards the ground.

In spite of the pain she had just been dealt, Kitty was still able to use her feet to slow her fall by sliding against one of the mansion walls. But before she could take a breather, the E-2000 quickly targeted her and then dive-bombed, in an attempt to crush the feline agent into the ground. Kitty though saw it coming, quickly diving out of the way at last second. Seconds later, the E-2000 slammed against the wall where Kitty had been leaning against hard, instantly destroying it. Debris from it quickly scattered everywhere, with smoke soon billowing from it as well.

Kitty then tried to stand up, but something in her chest really hurt as she did so. Seeing her pain made Eggman laugh, "You really are all talk, feline. You couldn't even put a scratch on my new machine!"

Cream meanwhile finally heard what was going on, as turned around, and saw the carnage the E-2000 was doing to the place. She quickly gasped in horror, saying to herself, "Oh, my, this is terrible!"

She then ran back to where she found the small robot, pondering, _Maybe this robot could help us out…_

Kitty then retorted to Eggman, though having a hard time keeping her composure, "I have to give you credit, Doctor. You're as vile of a fiend as I thought."

"Why thank you for the compliment." Eggman replied. "Nonetheless, you're still going to get it." He then ordered his E-2000 to finish her off with a large laser blast. His machine instantly responded, as it pointed its large arm cannon at her, charging up to fire.

Kitty tried to get out of the way, but was having a hard time moving in the process.

Seconds later, the E-2000 prepared to fire, but was abruptly interrupted, as Sonic hit it as hard as he could with a light speed dash. The E-2000 was instantly knocked into the air, landing on its face viciously this time.

"What in the…?"

Sonic now glared at the E-2000 with fierce anger once it righted itself, saying while seething, "You seriously injured my little bro, Robotnik! Now you're gonna pay severely for that!"

Eggman though kept his composure, retorting, "Well, I was wondering when you were going to show up again. I thought maybe seeing your little buddy hurt maybe would have knocked some sense into your thick skull. I guess I was mistaken."

Sonic though ignored his jab, saying to Kitty, "Hurry, take care of Tails. I'll handle this monstrosity."

Kitty didn't even argue with him this time, as she nodded her head and ran towards him as fast as she could.

Once she was of sight, Sonic said to Eggman, pointing a finger at his robot, "All right, Egghead, let's finish this!"

"With pleasure, warthog!" Eggman replied.

Moments later, Sonic revved up his legs and blasted towards to the E-2000. With fierce anger and determination in his eyes, Sonic would now hold nothing back. The E-2000 meanwhile saw him coming and prepared to counter attack. In spite of the fact Sonic no longer had Kitty and Tails to help flank the machine; he vowed to finish it off.

Sonic then pretended to run around it again, hoping to get it to bite. Thankfully for him, it did. The E-2000 attempted to smack him hard with its shield. Sonic though was ready for it, as he changed direction a split second before impact, attacking the machine with another spin dash to its head.

"What in the…"

Eggman was a bit dumbfounded by Sonic's new strategy, but still kept his resolve. "So, you found a crack in my robot's attack pattern. Big deal. That still won't get you very far, Sonic!"

"I'm just getting started!" Sonic countered.

While this had been going on, Kitty finally made it inside the garage, where she saw Tails on the ground, trying to sit up. As it turned out, getting slammed through the garage door had seriously sprained his left knee, as well left him with a black eye on the right side of his face.

Kitty knelt nearby, asking with concern, "Tails, you ok?"

Tails groaned in pain, but replied trying to act tough, "Yea, I'll be fine. Just help me up."

"But you can barely stand." Kitty protested.

"Don't worry about me." Tails told her. "Just help me inside the cockpit of the X-Tornado."

"Why? What are you going to do?" Kitty inquired curiously.

"You'll see…" Tails answered with a grin.

Back outside, Sonic went to attack again. Fighting on pure anger and adrenaline now, he was determined to make Eggman's machine pay for all the abuse it had caused.

Seconds later, the E-2000 fired multiple lasers at the blue hedgehog as he ran towards it, trying hard to zap him. Sonic though would not be stopped. He again went to confuse Eggman's robot. This time, he jumped around in all direction, trying to bait it again. Since Sonic had a very erratic pattern, the E-2000 was unable to focus in to smack him with its shield.

This went on for over thirty seconds, with no success at all.

"C'mon, hit me with your lasers for a change you hunk of junk!" Sonic dared.

Eggman surprisingly took the bait, as the E-2000 fired laser after laser. But unknown to Eggman and his machine, Sonic was again outsmarting him. As it tried to zap him again and again, Sonic finally quit evading and then got down to business. With one quick spin dash, Sonic hit the machine directly in the chest, seriously stunning it.

With the opening, Sonic went all out, as it spin dashed the E-2000 many times from all directions, hitting it in the head, chests, arms, even legs. He then knocked off its feet with a quick strike to its lower right metal leg after spin dashing it as hard as he could. Again, Eggman's machine was knocked to the ground, flat on its back once more.

Seconds later, the garage door opened. Sonic turned around and saw Tails inside of it, making him feel more confident inside.

"Tails, toss me a ring!" He shouted.

Just then, Sonic noticed the E-2000 trying to get up, so he put a foot on its chest, declaring, "Oh no, you don't! You stay down, you bucket of bolts!"

Tails quickly went to toss Sonic a ring from X-Tornado's nose, but when Sonic attempted to catch it, the E-2000 finally broke free of his foot, knocking the ground. The E-2000 then grabbed the ring nearby and broke it into pieces with its bare metal fist. Kitty and Tails both looked on with shock on their faces after witnessing this.

Sonic though was deeply enraged inside, as he glared at the E-2000 with fierce anger after standing up. Eggman however just taunted him, saying, "Ha! So much for your super ring! Maybe if you didn't try to pin it down in futility, you might have not lost it!"

"That does it!" Sonic shouted, pointing at it again. "I'm gonna turn that machine of yours into a tin can!"

"Go ahead and try it!" Eggman dared. "You're too weak to pull it off!"

Eggman's taunt fueled his determination, as Sonic ran towards it with full vigor. Once he was within range, he spun into ball and went to spin dash it. Unfortunately for Sonic, he forgot the machine could block it with ease with its shield. The E-2000 again and again negated Sonic's homing attacks. Ten seconds into this, Eggman machine timed its counter measure with perfection, as it firmly grabbed Sonic by his chest.

Sonic tried valiantly to get free, but Eggman's machine kept a tight grasp.

Eggman started laughing at him, saying, "Forget about it, blue boy. You'll never get free."

"Sonic!" At this point, Kitty and Tails could only look on helpless due to being injured from before.

Moments later, Eggman said to Sonic, "Now then, it's time you met your demise."

The E-2000 then tossed him into the air and smacked him hard under his chin with its shield, sending the blue hedgehog flying.

Kitty now quickly ran out of the garage, trying to see what was going on. Seconds later, the E-2000 flew after him, changing into a plane, quickly hitting him a couple of more times with its metal body while in midair. Then, as a finishing move, Eggman's robot smacked him one more time with its body, sending Sonic hurtling towards the mansion in a hurry. As a bonus for Eggman, the E-2000 fired a large laser blast at Sonic, hitting directly hitting him in the right shoulder. The result of the laser attack resulted in not only the blue hedgehog ending up with serious burns, but plummeting to the ground below at an ever faster velocity.

Kitty at this point gasped in horror, as she saw the angle Sonic was descending towards. It was an ugly one to say the least. Again, she tried to catch him in time; even it meant injuring her further. But it wasn't to be. Due to being banged up, Kitty was unable to help him in time, as Sonic crashed through the mansion's front window with fierce velocity.

"SONIC!" It was all Kitty could do now to keep from tearing up; as she didn't know how badly injured Sonic was due to all the glass shards around the living room. Thankfully though, his fall was cushioned by the sofa nearby. Nonetheless, Sonic received several cuts to his body, including a very serious one across on his chest that began to bleed a bit profusely.

Kitty immediately ran in to check on Sonic as fast as she could. She soon saw him lying on the couch, where he was now fighting to stay conscious. Seeing this, she ran to his side, asking with fright, "Sonic, are you all right?"

Fortunately for her, Sonic was able to sit up, though not very easily, replying with loud groan, "Yea, I'll be ok. Don't worry about me."

Seeing the multiple cuts on his body, Kitty said to him, "C'mon, we've got to get you bandaged up."

Just then, the E-2000 blasted through the wall violently where Sonic had taken out the window, with Eggman saying to them icily, "I don't think so, vermin. I'm afraid your time is up."

Kitty quickly turned around startled, as she almost forgot about Eggman's machine.

Eggman then pressed a few buttons on his control panel, as his E-2000 now pointed the laser gun at them, saying, "Farewell, troublemakers!"

And with that taunt, the E-2000 charged up its arm cannon. Kitty unfortunately realized they were now literally in a catch-22. With many glass shards around the room, the chances of them getting cut if they decided to evade its oncoming attack were very high, not to mention Sonic was already cut up badly already. On top of that, due to Kitty being weakened from before, she was in no position to grab Sonic and flee safely.

Seconds later, the E-2000 went to fire, but again was abruptly interrupted, as it was hit fiercely from behind by a large yellow and red hammer, knocking it the ground flat on its metal chest.

"What the…?"

_Huh? Could it be…? Kitty pondered._

Within moments, the smoke cleared, revealing a familiar face. "Amy?"

Indeed it was, as Amy now stood before them, looking on with fierce rage in her eyes.

Eggman's robot quickly stood up again, with Amy shouting at it while pointing with her right hand, "You dare try to kill my Sonikku? I'll turn you into scrap metal for this!"

Eggman though was not the least bit amused. "So, the whiny brat comes to the rescue, eh? No matter, my E-2000 will crush you just like the others."

"Just try it, Eggman!" Amy challenged. "You messed with the bull, now you're gonna get the horns!"

Amy then instantly charged towards the E-2000 at full speed, with her Piko Hammer firmly grasped in both hands while she ran. Once she was within range, the pink hedgehog began to swing wildly at the machine with everything she had. The E-2000 of course countered her attacks by using its shield to block her oncoming assault. Nonetheless, Amy's vigor and rage would not be deterred. She continued to swing at the robot again and again.

While this had been going on, Kitty subtly began to try to move Sonic out of harm's way without being spotted. Seconds later, Tails then came flying over from the south side, though a bit slowly due to previous injuries, landing nearby. There he saw Sonic's cuts, gasping with disbelief, asking, "What happened to him, Kitty?"

"Sonic went flying through the front window." Kitty explained. "C'mon, help me get him to safety."

Tails quickly nodded his head, as he grabbed Sonic's legs with both of his hands.

Meanwhile, Amy and the E-2000 continued to duel. At first, all her hammer swings were negated due to its metal shield. But eventually, Amy began to wear it down, as she finally got it out of position with a smack on the back its metal knees. Her attack knocked the E-2000 off balance, and that was all Amy needed to get an advantage. While Eggman's machine tried to regain its lost footing, the pink hedgehog smacked the E-2000 upside the head, stunning it further. Even then, Amy wouldn't let up; as she again and again hit the robot with everything she had, knocking it backwards further. It soon got to the point she was basically smacking Eggman's machine right out the front door with each hammer swing.

Kitty happened to turn her head while she and Tails were moving Sonic to another room and saw Amy's resilience and fury, making her think perplexed, _My goodness, she really does love Sonic. She's going to kill that robot by herself if that's what it takes._

Kitty's words were a serious understatement to say the least. Seconds later, Amy finally smacked the E-2000 outside of the mansion's walls. Then, she went for the kill. She smacked the robot into the air with one quick swoop, where she quickly lept into the air as well and hit it again, this time directly on top of its head like a railroad spike. Her attack was so strong, the E-2000 hit the ground hard, now wedged half way inside.

Eggman during this time was completely aghast from her rage and determination. He had seriously underestimated the pink hedgehog's abilities.

"How is she able to do that to my machine?" Eggman demanded from her control room. "It's just not possible!"

But Amy still wasn't done. She then walked up to the heavily damaged E-2000 and said to it seething with her Piko hammer held high, "This is for all the pain you caused my true love!"

Amy quickly wound up her arms as they would go, and then swung her hammer as hard as she could, smacking the robot underneath its chin. Again, her attack was strong; it even knocked the robot out of being jammed into the ground, where it slammed hard against one of the mansion's walls.

At this point, the E-2000 began to severely spark, as Amy's attacks had weakened it to the point where it could barely function. Kitty finally came out after moving Sonic to safety and saw the job Amy had done. She was blown away to say the least.

"Whoa, you were something else." Kitty commented softly. "Impressive.

Amy though just let out a small huff, retorting, "You're not the only hotshot female around here, you know."

Kitty could still sense some jealousy from her body language after hearing that, making the feline agent put a hand on her forehead again with disgust.

"Anyway, I moved Sonic to one of the bedrooms." Kitty told Amy. "He should be safe there for the time being."

"Still trying to win him over, eh?" Amy inquired with a frown.

Kitty now let out a loud groan, rolling her eyes, saying, "What is your problem? We're in the middle of a big battle, and all you can think about is romance?"

Amy though didn't get a chance to retort, as Eggman's machine abruptly stood up and hovered a few feet in the air, though still heavily sparking.

"Very clever, Amy." Eggman told her. "But you still haven't finished the job. My E-2000 is still alive and kicking."

"Not for long it won't!" Amy countered. And with that, she charged after it again with her hammer held high.

"Amy, wait!" Kitty shouted, extending her right hand out again

"Save it, Catwoman!" Amy fired back while running. "You're not stealing this moment from me!"

But unfortunately for the pink hedgehog, Eggman was ready for Amy this time. The second Amy lept into the air with her hammer held high, ready to swing, the E-2000 quickly fired a large laser from its arm cannon. Its attack was directly on target, hitting her squarely in the chest.

"Amy!"

Kitty could only watch with shock, as Amy was knocked backwards and then slammed hard against one of the large trees in the yard. To make matters worse, her wounded side from before took the brunt of the blow.

Kitty quickly tried to run to her aide, but was unfortunately cut off, as the E-2000 abruptly stepped in front of the feline agent, firing multiple lasers at her. Kitty though was able to evade it, but only briefly, as the E-2000 then smacked her backwards again with its shield. This time, Kitty was hit in the gut, knocking her backwards several feet onto the ground, where she soon clutched in it in pain with her right arm while down on one knee.

"Ha! So much for you trying to save the day!" Eggman taunted again. "Not even the four of you combined could beat my machine!"

At this point, Kitty fought through the pain, as she stood up again, trying to keep her resolve. Eggman though was just laughed at her courage, saying, "You might as well stay down, feline! You and the rest of your kind will be wiped out soon enough!"

Cream meanwhile happened to have seen what had happened to Amy and Kitty, now making her tremble inside with fear.

"Oh my, this is terrible." She said to herself. "I've got to do something."

She then ran to where she saw the small robot was still sitting and decided to try to get it to help. Even if it was a long shot; the young rabbit was desperate by this point.

"Please, Mr. Robot, you've got to help my friends." She pleaded. "They're in big trouble."

Strangely, the robot seemed to take her words to heart, as it quickly stood up and flew towards the battle.

As Cream saw it leave, she could only hope it would help.

On the other side of the house, Eggman prepared to have the E-2000 fire and finish off Kitty.

"Say goodbye, G.U.N agent!" he taunted.

And with that, the E-2000 charged its arm cannon again and prepared to fire. Kitty by this time could barely move, as her body was aching all over. She then closed her eyes, as she thought it was over for her.

But it was not to be. Out of nowhere, the small robot Cream had asked to help her friends, did indeed. It quickly slammed against the E-2000's chest hard, knocking it backwards several feet.

"What in the world?"

Eggman quickly got a look at it, saying angrily, "What is that hunk of junk doing here? I think I trashed it a long time ago!"

Kitty finally opened her eyes after her demise was abruptly interrupted, and there saw the robot herself, making her think, _Huh? What is that thing?_

Before Kitty could ponder this further, Eggman input the commands for the E-2000 to destroy the small robot. Fortunately for Kitty and her friends though, it would not happen. Unknown to her though, it inadvertently copied her abilities and used it against Eggman's machine. The small gray then began to use its new martial arts ability to pound the E-2000 into submission, as it used multiple karate chops and kicks with speed and power. Due to being a machine, having Kitty's martial arts ability made this unknown robot a lethal threat.

While this was going on, Kitty slowly ran over to Amy, where she was moaning loudly, trying to stay conscience. As it unfortunately turned out, her wound had been reopened from hitting the tree, and was bleeding pretty badly.

Kitty then pressed with wound with her partially torn dress, saying, "Hang in there, Amy, I'll get you to safety."

Eggman meanwhile could only watch in disbelief, as the gray robot soon finished off his machine, taking it high into the air while clutching it tightly with its right metal hand and then quickly descending. There, it body slammed the E-2000 to the ground with fury, putting a big hole into the ground as a result.

Kitty even happened to witness this, where the gray robot soon came out of the ground victorious. The E-2000 on the other hand was finally damaged to the point where it could no longer function. It finally sparked out of control and then blew up violently a few seconds later. Pieces of metal from its body instantly flew everywhere, with smoke quickly billowing from the hole.

At this point, Kitty was completely dumbfounded by how strong the small gray robot really was.

_Where did that machine come from? And how was it able to destroy that E-2000 with ease?_

Kitty even pondered how it was able to use martial arts moves as well, especially since the fact those moves looked a lot like hers.

_It's like that machine copied my abilities and performed them on its own… Is that even possible?_

Kitty though decided to worry about that later, as she picked up Amy in her arms, who was now unconscious and carried her towards the seriously damaged mansion. But just before she could get inside, she saw Eggman's severed radio receiver nearby on the ground, the same one he had used to taunt them with during the E-2000's assault.

It then took her by surprise, as Eggman gave one last stern message. "Very clever of you to use one my former machines against me. But know this… The battle's just beginning. I will return, and I will finish you all off. You can count on it!" Eggman's receiver had been heavily damaged at this point; even to the point the audio was slightly garbled.

Kitty though paid no attention to his threat, as she finished the radio off instead by smashing it with her right foot as hard as she could, breaking it into pieces. She then continued walking towards the house, thinking, _You caught me off guard this time, Eggman. But you won't again. _

Halfway into carrying Amy back to the mansion, she added, _your days of causing chaos and destruction are numbered. You can bet on that._


	11. A Tale of 2 Emerls Part 2

Ten minutes later in the Thorndyke mansion, Kitty went to check on Sonic and Tails. Before she did though, Kitty laid Amy on top of one of the beds to recover. Since there were glass shards all over the place in the room, she had to carry the pink hedgehog to one of the other guest rooms upstairs instead.

Cream, who happened to be nearby, followed her and asked the feline agent after Amy was placed on top of the bed in the room, "Is she going to be all right?"

"Hopefully." Kitty replied softly. Technically, she didn't know for sure, but decided to not traumatize the young rabbit further by putting more fear in her. She then told Cream, "Keep an eye on her for me, will you? I'll be right back."

"Of course." Cream answered, nodding her head.

Kitty quickly left the room after that, heading towards one of the other guest rooms, where Sonic was being attended to by Tails. Not surprisingly, Kitty found it somewhat difficult to walk without some pain in her chest after the E-2000 had slammed its shield hard into it.

"How he's doing, Tails?" Kitty inquired after walking the room.

Tails glanced towards her somberly and replied shaking his head, "Not very good. He got pretty cut up in the chest by a piece of glass."

Hearing that deeply concerned the feline agent, as she realized this had indeed been an uglier battle than originally thought. Sonic though was still conscious, but was very weak physically.

"I guess I better call for assistance." Kitty said. Before she did though, she asked Tails, "So, how you holding up?"

"I'll live." He answered firmly. "It's just a small sprain." Tails though was trying to act tough for Kitty since he wanted to impress her. Deep down, it hurt a lot worse than he was letting on.

Kitty then called G.U.N HQ on her phone outside of the room, saying, "We need immediate medical assistance sent to the Thorndyke mansion right away."

"What for?" The dispatcher inquired. "I thought no one lived there anymore after the family was killed."

"Sonic and his friends still do." Kitty explained. "And they're all seriously injured as of now."

"From what?" The dispatcher inquired further.

"Eggman sent a robot here to take them out, but failed." Kitty told him. "Nonetheless, that mad man got some pretty solid shots at them, especially Sonic."

"What, Sonic?" Hearing this made the dispatcher deeply alarmed. "What happened to him?"

"He crashed through a window and is cut up pretty badly." Kitty explained.

"Oh my goodness!" Just then, it hit the dispatcher. "Wait a second, how do you know all of this?"

"I happened to be there when it all went down." Kitty replied softly.

"You what? Why would you be there in the first place?" The dispatcher demanded.

"Uh, it was mostly due to… personal business." Kitty answered hesitantly. "Anyway, send a medical team here ASAP. Sonic's life could be at stake."

The dispatcher though told her awkwardly, "I'll have to talk to the Commander first before I can get clearance to send a medical team to non G.U.N civilians."

"Are you nuts?" Kitty demanded. "There's no time for that!"

"But I…"

"Look, what would you rather answer for?" Kitty said angrily. "Not following orders to the T or being responsible for Sonic maybe ending up dead?"

With Kitty putting it that way, the dispatcher replied after a long pause, "Very well. I'll send a medical team right away."

"Thank you."

"But remember, if the Commander demands an explanation for my actions, I'm going to tell him it was your idea."

"I don't care about that right now!" Kitty reiterated, deeply annoyed. "Lives are more important than trivial matters like this!"

"Errr…. right. Anyway, they should be on the scene within five to ten minutes."

"All right then. Thanks for your help."

Kitty then hung up her phone, and thought with a groan while shaking her head. _Honestly, what is with these people? I swear, it's like their stupid rules are more important than doing the right thing._

Kitty though decided to put this matter aside, as there were more pressing issues at hand. She then walked back into the room, where she saw Sonic looking progressively weaker with every passing minute. Trying to boost his spirits, Kitty told him, "Medical help is on the way. Hang in there, Sonic."

Being arrogant and tough, Sonic told her, "No prob. I'm tough as nails. No way Eggman is going to beat me that easily."

Seeing he still had his moxie within him made Kitty feel better inside, though still very concerned. Tails then asked her out of curiosity, "How's Amy doing? I haven't seen any sign of her after she went all berserk on Eggman's robot."

"I'm not sure." Kitty replied softly. "Amy was slammed pretty hard into a tree during the battle, which in turn reopened her wound."

Tails instantly gasped in disbelief while Sonic looked on stunned. "Is she... in really bad shape?" he asked deeply worried.

"I don't know." Kitty told him, shaking her head. "She's unconscious at the moment."

Hearing this news unfortunately dampened Sonic's spirits, as the idea of losing another friend of his was more than he could handle.

Kitty though put a hand on his right shoulder, telling him, "Don't worry too much about her. I'm sure she'll be ok. It's you I'm more concerned about now."

"I told you already." Sonic reiterated, crossing his arms together. "I'm tough as nails."

"That doesn't mean you're invincible." Kitty replied firmly. "And besides, you can't tell me that getting cut up didn't seriously weaken you."

Deep down, Sonic knew she was right, but was way too proud to admit it to her.

Kitty then said to him after a long pause, "The important thing to do is to rest now. It's pointless to keep trying to act tough when there's no need for it."

"Easier said than done." Sonic retorted with a frown. "Let's not forget, I'm a hedgehog on the go, and I'm not about to lose that image."

Kitty again put a hand on her forehead, thinking with a groan, _He just has to act like a big shot even now with his life in serious jeopardy._

Needing to unwind a bit, Kitty then grabbed a chair nearby and sat down on it to gather her thoughts. But as she did so, the pain from her chest came back, making her wince a bit.

"Kitty, are you ok?" Tails asked concerned.

"Yea, I'll be fine." Kitty replied softly. "I just have some chest pain after getting hit by the robot in the mid-section."

"Maybe that machine broke one of your ribs." Tails commented, placing a hand on his chin.

"Perhaps… But that's not my main concern right now." Kitty reiterated. "Right now, I need to get you two and Amy ready to go when the medical team arrives."

Tails nodded his head, saying, "I'll get Sonic ready to leave right away. Why don't you check on Amy again in the meantime?"

"Sure."

Kitty then left the room and checked in on the pink hedgehog. There, she saw Cream keeping a close eye on her friend with a look of deep concern on her face.

"Has she improved any since I left?" Kitty asked Cream.

"Well, I managed to stop the bleeding at least." the young rabbit replied softly. "But she still hasn't come to. I'm very worried about her."

"Don't worry." Kitty told her, placing a hand on her right shoulder. "Help's on the way. Just don't lose hope."

"I'll try…" Cream said softly with sadness in her voice. "But it's hasn't been easy after all the evil Eggman has done to us."

Kitty could sense all the chaos by Dr. Eggman had deeply affected her emotionally. So, in an attempt to soothe her troubled state, she got down on one knee and told the young rabbit at eye level, "Eggman is not going to get away with what he's done to you all. I personally will see to it he gets what's coming to him."

"Are you sure you can do that?" Cream asked her. "He's a very clever scientist."

"He may be," Kitty reiterated. "But I will not rest until he's taken down. I promise you that."

Seeing Kitty's determination in her eyes made Cream feel somewhat better inside, as she said while nodding her head, "Ok then. I'll be counting on you, Kitty. Please don't let me down."

"I'll do my best to not disappoint." Kitty replied with a slight smile on her face.

The two of them were then silent, as neither knew what to say next. Kitty eventually filled the silence, asking, "So, tell me, what do you know about that robot who destroyed that E-2000?"

Cream shrugged her shoulders, replying, "I don't know hardly anything about it. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I couldn't help but notice it came from the front yard, but you weren't attacked by it." Kitty explained. "Where did you first see that machine anyway?"

"I just saw it in the bushes." Cream replied. "And… strangely… I wasn't scared by it. In fact, I even felt like it was a good robot inside. It even followed my instructions."

"Your instructions? What do you mean?" Kitty inquired.

"Well, I was the one who asked it to help you all out. And… it did."

Kitty now placed a hand on her chin and began to ponder this over. _That machine actually responded to her command? How is that even possible?_

Kitty though got no time to ponder it further, as she heard the sirens in the distance.

"What's that?" Cream asked a bit startled inside.

"That's the help I sent for." Kitty explained. "Hurry, help me move Amy to the front door."

Cream nodded her head, as she quickly moved towards her bed and was preparing to pick her up. Just then, Amy eventually came to, asking with a groan while blinking her eyes, "Uh, what happened?"

Seeing this boosted Cream's spirits, as she told her, "Hang in there, Amy, help's coming soon."

"What about Sonic?" Amy asked softly. "Is he ok?"

"He'll be fine." Kitty replied. "Right now, we need to move you towards the front door. Can you walk?"

"I think so." She replied weakly.

Amy then jumped off the bed and tried to walk towards the door, but wasn't able to keep her balance due to loss of blood. Kitty and Cream though caught her before she fell, as each grabbed one of her arms to keep her steady.

"Maybe we should have one of the paramedics carry you." Kitty suggested.

"I'm not a cripple." Amy told her firmly. "I can get there on my own just fine."

But again, Amy was still too weak, as she could barely stay on her own two feet.

Kitty then told Cream after the pink hedgehog nearly lost her balance again, "Help me walk her towards to front door."

Cream nodded her head and did as she was told, putting her arm around Amy's waist to help keep her footing. While they were helping her, Amy again said to them weakly, "I told you, I can do this on my own. I don't need your assistance."

"Well, I say you do." Kitty replied firmly. "So please stop being stubborn and cooperate with us."

As they walked down the stairs, Amy said complaining, "You know, I really don't appreciate you two treating me like an invalid."

"Please don't be mad at us, Amy." Cream told her softly. "We're only trying to help."

"But I don't want this kind of help." The pink hedgehog reiterated, moaning in pain. "Besides, I want to be able to stand when I see Sonic. I want him to know I personally saved his life from that E-2000 machine so he'll feel indebted to me."

At this point, Kitty again shook her head, thinking, _Good grief, she's just as stubborn as Sonic, if not more so._ She then added after a small pause,_ Maybe those two are made for each other after all._

Moments later, the medical team finally came through the front door, with one paramedic asking the feline agent, "All right, where's the injured members of this household?"

"Here's one of them, sir." Kitty replied. "She reopened a serious bullet wound not too long ago."

The paramedic then checked her right side, saying with a frown, "Yep, this is pretty serious wound all right. She's going to need stitches right away."

"I'm fine, really." Amy told him. "It's not that serious as you think it is."

"Young lady, I know a serious wound when I see one." The paramedic replied with authority in his voice. "Now please lay down onto this gurney where we can properly escort you to an ambulance."

"What about Sonic though?" Amy protested. "I have to see him."

"You'll see him soon enough." Kitty told her. "Just please quit resisting our help already."

At this point, Amy finally relinquished, saying with a frown, "Fine, but nothing bad had better happen to my beloved while I'm away."

"Sonic will be in good hands." The paramedic reiterated. "We'll see to it he gets proper medical attention."

"Speaking of which, where is he and Tails?" Cream pondered out loud.

Seconds later, she finally saw them, as the two tailed fox was carrying Sonic down stairs towards the front door while flying. Thankfully for Kitty, Amy had been escorted out of the room before she could see his weakened state.

The paramedic on the other hand said after seeing Sonic, "Ok, I see he's going to need the most attention from us. We better started."

He then called in more of his helpers, as they immediately went to Sonic's aide.

Within seconds, another gurney was brought in, with the paramedics placing the blue hedgehog on top of it and then got to work.

"That's a pretty deep cut all right." One of the paramedics commented. "We'll have to stop the bleeding right away before he passes out."

Sonic again thought of resisting, but with him very weak and seeing Kitty's body language for him to cooperate, he let them do their job. Nonetheless, he didn't enjoy it at all. In fact, when they attempted to clean the wound, Sonic let out a small yelp, as the cleaning solution left a burning sensation to his skin.

"Ah, that stings!" Sonic said loudly. "Is this really necessary?"

"Your wound is very infected." One of the paramedics told him. "I'm surprised it hasn't done more harm to you already."

"I'm a fighter, what can I say?" Sonic replied with a weak shrug.

"Well, that's good to know," The same paramedic said, "Because I'm going to need to fight to stay conscious if possible. Can you do this for me?"

"I'll give it my best shot." he answered, trying to act tough towards them.

After a few gauze pads were wrapped on the wound to stabilize the bleeding, the first paramedic said to assistants, "Ok, let's get to him the ambulance right away!"

As they were wheeling him out, it then hit Kitty, "Uh, sir?"

"Yes?"

"I think it would be best if you didn't put him and the pink hedgehog in the same ambulance." She suggested.

"Why's that?"

"Well, uh… Amy's very attached to him to say the least. And if she finds out how seriously wounded he is, she might become very difficult for you to handle."

"Oh, c'mon, I can handle any patient." The paramedic said firmly. "How bad could she be?"

Not even seconds later, he found out the hard way, as she was shouting to the other paramedics outside, "Where is Sonic? How come I haven't seen him yet being escorted out here?"

"Miss, please calm down. He's still being attended to." One paramedic told her.

"What? Are you telling me he's that badly hurt?" Amy demanded.

"Settle down, young lady." The same paramedic instructed. "We're just making sure he's being properly cared for."

"Then why isn't he out here yet?" Amy interrogated angrily. "You're hiding something from me, aren't you?"

"No, we aren't. I wouldn't lie to you about this."

Amy though still wasn't convinced, as she was still having fits, demanding to see him.

"See what I mean?" Kitty said softly.

The lead paramedic knew she was right, so he walked over to the pink hedgehog and said, telling a half truth, "Miss, Sonic will be fine. We're just making sure everything is in order before he's loaded into the ambulance."

Hearing this didn't deter Amy's deep concern much, as she asked, "But why do you have to do such a thorough job? If he's fine, you wouldn't need to examine him this long."

"He's one of the most important citizens of Central City." The paramedic explained. "We have to do a more thorough job for him since we can't take any chances of his injuries worsening. How could we face the citizens we look up to him if that happened?"

Amy finally settled down after hearing that, saying softly, "Well, I guess so." She then looked him in the eye and told the paramedic firmly, "Do your very best job for him. He means the world to me."

"I assure you I will, Miss." The lead paramedic replied. "Now then, in order to give Sonic our very best, he'll need an ambulance all to himself so we can focus squarely on his needs."

"What, I can't ride with him?"

"Unfortunately not. We'll need that room for the paramedics."

Amy hated the idea of riding in another ambulance, but eventually conceded to his wishes. "Well, if it means Sonic will be better sooner, so be it."

"Thank you, Miss. I appreciate your cooperation."

He then looked back at Kitty and asked, "Anyone left for us to attend to before we take Amy?"

"Well, there's Tails." She answered softly. "He injured his knee during the battle."

"I'm fine, Kitty, really." Tails said protesting.

Tails unfortunately though leaned the wrong way on his sprained knee a second later, making him flinch strongly in pain, grabbing his wounded leg.

"Hmm… That looks like a pretty severe sprain." The paramedic commented. "I better take a look at it."

"I'm ok, sir." Tails told him. "I'll manage."

Kitty then turned to him and said, "Let him help you, Tails. It's important that you get this taken care of as soon as possible."

Wanting to please her, Tails nodded his head and replied with a sigh, "All right then." He looked at the paramedic and said, "Do what you have to do, sir."

"Ok, we'll need you to ride in the ambulance with the pink hedgehog." The paramedic said. "Come this way, lad."

"I can hardly move my left leg." Tails told him. "It hurts too much."

"Hmm…" The paramedic then turned to Kitty and said, "Can you help me carry him to the ambulance?"

"Sure."

The two of them quickly picked up the two tailed fox by the shoulders and carried him towards the ambulance. Once he was loaded in with Amy, the paramedic turned to Kitty and said, "Thanks for the help."

However, it was then the paramedic noticed Kitty wincing in pain after letting go of Tails, clutching her lower chest with her right hand.

"Ma'am, are you ok?" he asked concerned.

"I'll be fine." Kitty replied firmly. "Just a bit bruised up here."

The paramedic though knew better. "Hmm… I don't think that's bruises you have there." He then told her, "I think it would be wise if you came with us too."

Kitty thought of resisting like the others, but realized she would not be setting a good example after having the others cooperate with the medical staff.

She then sighed in defeat and said to him, "Very well then."

"Since you seem the least injured, you can ride up front with the driver." He told her.

"Sure thing."

Before she did though, Kitty went to check on Sonic one last time, asking those who were working on him, "How he's doing?"

"Well, we managed to stop most of the bleeding thankfully, but it's still squirting out a bit." One of the paramedics explained. "We'll have to use some more advanced techniques to get it under control completely." 

Sonic then told her after a bit of silence, who was still conscious, but very weak inside, "You go on ahead. I'm in good hands here. Just make sure the others are properly taken care of for me, will you?"

Kitty nodded her head, replying, "You got it, Sonic. Stay strong."

"You too." He said back to her with a faint smile.

She then walked away from the blue hedgehog and boarded the ambulance where Amy and Tails were currently being treated in. After she fastened her seatbelt, Kitty said to driver, "Ok, let's roll."

And with those words, the ambulance driver started up the engine and headed towards the nearest hospital. Once it was out of sight, Sonic was carefully placed in the other ambulance, where it soon took off and headed there as well.

During the trip there, Kitty thought, _I sure hope Amy doesn't get all hysterical when she finds out Sonic's condition was worse than we let on. _

Deep down, Kitty didn't want to lie to her, but knew it had to be done in order to keep the peace.

Back at Eggman's base, the mad scientist was now pondering his results of his latest attack.

"Those upgrades I put in that E-2000 worked better than expected." He commented, crossing his arms together. "Even my experimental bot didn't too badly either in its mission."

Seconds later, Eggman said to himself, "It just occurred to me… The E-2000 really could have killed them all off on the spot." The mad scientist then entertained this intriguing thought for a while, pondering it very deeply.

"Maybe I should have gone through with that when I had the chance." He added.

However, he soon dismissed it, saying, "Ah, who am I kidding? While it would have taken care of my problem, I wouldn't have gotten as much fun watching Sonic and his friends meet their demise on a little screen miles away anyhow. Not to mention I wouldn't be able to use my new machine that I have in store for them."

After another brief pause, he then decided, "I'll have to ease off a bit next time. After all, I don't want Sonic to be so weak that I wouldn't be able to enjoy seeing him getting his blue posterior kicked all over the place while trying his hardest to win."

Another thought soon came to his mind. "However, I suppose I could let my next robot I send to bait them finish off that meddling feline G.U.N agent. After all, if she and Sonic try to invade my base together, their odds of winning will be very high indeed."

Moments later, Eggman's door opened, as Decoe and Becoe finally returned. The mad scientist quickly turned to look at them a bit startled, yelling, "Well, it's about time you idiots returned! You've been gone for days! I even was beginning to wonder if you went AWOL on me!"

Decoe then replied a bit frightened, "Oh, no, Doctor. We would never do that to you."

"Then why were you gone for so long?" He demanded. "Explain yourselves!"

"Well…" Becoe said hesitantly, now speaking up. "We wanted to get you as detailed of a file report as we could on that feline, so we found out where she originally came from and made a copy of her file from her previous job."

"Really?" Eggman now was very intrigued by this. "Are you saying you got her complete analysis in that folder you're carrying?"

Decoe held up the file and replied, "Oh yes, sir. You'll be very pleased by what we found."

"Well then, hand it over to me." Eggman ordered.

Decoe and Becoe did as they were told, walking over towards his chair and handing him the file. Eggman then quickly skimmed through, looking on with deep curiosity.

"Ooh, this is good. Very good indeed." He said with a grin. "This is exactly what I was looking for."

Hearing this made Decoe relax a bit, asking, "Are you satisfied with our work then?"

Eggman looked up with a frown, replying gruffly, "Yes, it's exceptional, now don't bother me."

Decoe and Becoe both looked a bit disappointed. Nonetheless, Decoe spoke up again and said while he was reading the file, "Uh, Doctor?"

"What is it now?" he demanded annoyed.

"Well, since you are happy with our results, I was wondering if you could…"

"What, you want a trophy now?" Eggman retorted angrily.

"Uh, not exactly." Becoe answered awkwardly. "We were wondering if you could… uh; give us a job promotion perhaps."

Eggman now looked at them with deep disgust, shouting, "Are you insane? Why should I give you a promotion when all you did was brought me her file? Why, any moron could have done that!"

"But sir…"

Eggman cut Decoe off, saying loudly, "The only way I'm giving either of you buffoons a promotion is if you help me get rid of Sonic and agent Katswell. And when I help, I mean, REALLY help!"

Decoe and Becoe at first were silent, but then Decoe replied, "Of course, sir. We'll do what whatever we can to see them taken care of. Just name it."

Eggman though answered them, "I don't have an assignment in mind for you yet, but if you're really serious about helping me, then you'll be the first to know as soon I think of one."

"Sounds good, Doctor." Becoe commented enthused.

"Now then, leave me to my work." Eggman ordered sharply. "If you bucket of bolts want to help me at the moment, give Bokkun a hand at shining the place up. It's looking really dingy as of late."

"As you wish, sir."

Eggman's main assistants immediately left the room, as they went to fulfill their tasks. Once they were out of sight, the mad doctor got back to working on his new machine.

"If everything goes as planned," he commented. "I should have this robot finished within 2 days tops."

Five minutes later, Eggman again received a visit from his mysterious ally, as she said softly in the background, "Working hard, are we?"

Eggman instantly turned around, saying, "You again? Don't you have anything better to do than to stalk me in the shadows?"

"I'm just making sure everything is in order when it's time to unleash your plan." it replied with a smirk. "After all, you're not the most infallible scientist."

Eggman though turned away in a huff, retorting while working on his invention, "You just make sure you keep your end of the bargain if you want any form of payment. I'm more than capable of taking care of things here."

For the next minute, both said nothing, as Eggman was squarely focused on his machine. The mysterious person in the shadows then said, "So, I hear you're planning to get rid of Kitty Katswell soon."

Again, Eggman turned around, demanding angrily, "And just how would you know that? What do you do, record my every word spoken here?"

The mysterious figure though laughed heartily, replying, "Please, have you forgotten already what I am?"

Eggman now was silenced by that remark, as he muttered, "Yes, I suppose so."

Another ten seconds soon passed, with the figure commenting, "I think though you should reconsider this decision on your part."

"Oh yea, and why's that?" Eggman demanded, turning around again.

"Think about it, Doctor. Did you notice agent Katswell had no weapons on her during the last battle?"

Eggman hadn't given too much thought to that, but answered, "Hmm, yes, she was unarmed now that I recall."

"That's because you took her by surprise." the figure told him firmly. "She wasn't expecting you to attack the mansion so soon."

"And your point is…?"

"You're a genius, aren't you? Figure it out."

"Don't banter with me!" Eggman roared. "What are you trying to say?"

"If you are planning to attack the mansion again, then I can almost guarantee she will be armed the next time, and quite heavily too I believe."

"Why should that concern me?" Eggman inquired. "Who cares if she brings weapons there? I can still take her down no sweat."

"You're letting your ego and arrogance get the best of you again."

"How dare you talk down to me!" Eggman shouted. "Why, I have an IQ of 300, which is a lot more than what you have!"

"Then if you're so smart, use that big brain of yours for once." The shadowy figure countered.

Eggman growled at the figure, but it continued, "Let's not forget your last battle with them was very close. All four of them really did a number on your E-2000. In fact, if Amy hadn't become too aggressive near the end, it might have lost to her."

Eggman hated to admit it, but knew this person had a point.

"Now imagine if Kitty comes there with RPG-7's, machine guns, and who knows what else. Do you honestly think your machine would beat her so easily this time?"

At this point, the mad doctor was silent. He knew she was right about this. "All right, what do you suggest I do then, smart aleck?"

"No need for name calling, Eggman. The solution is simple. Wait until her guard is down before lowering the boom on her."

"And how am I going to do that exactly?" Eggman demanded.

"Simple. I'll gain her trust in the meantime and then lead her into your trap. Once she's cornered, agent Katswell will be a cinch for you to get rid of."

Eggman now pondered this over very carefully, as he still wasn't 100% convinced.

"Ask yourself this, Doctor. What would you rather deal with? A grizzly bear in a forest fire, or a mouse caught in a mouse trap?"

At this point, Eggman conceded, as he slowly nodded his head in agreement, replying, "Very well then. I'll go along with your plan for now."

"I thought you might."

The shadowy figure was about to turn and leave, when Eggman added, "Just a fair warning… If the opportunity arrives while at the mansion, and you're not there to intervene, I'm taking her out myself."

"I doubt that will happen.' The figure retorted. "But I'll be ready nearby just in case."

Eggman let out a loud humph, replying, "Whatever."

Ten seconds later, the figure said arrogantly "See you later, Eggman."

And with that, it left the building.

Eggman then turned back to his work, muttering, "Sometimes I wonder why I even let her influence me. Ah, no matter. She'll be part of my plan where the ends will justify the means. And then, I'll take her out too. That sly bounty hunter won't outsmart me when it's all said and done. Heh Heh!"

Sometime later, the ambulances arrived at the hospital, where Kitty, Sonic and the others were escorted into the building for medical treatment. Since Sonic was the worst injured, he was the first one to get worked on. Thankfully by now, the bleeding by was almost stopped completely, but was still flowing a bit. It was all Sonic could do now to stay conscious since he had lost a lot of blood.

Amy was the next in line due to her wound being reopened. Like Sonic, the bleeding on her right side was mostly contained also, but she was also very weak from the loss of blood. As for Kitty and Tails, they were sent to other rooms since their conditions weren't as serious.

Ten minutes later, a female doctor soon came into her room, where she examined Kitty's chest with an X-Ray machine.

"Hmm…" she said. "It looks like one of you're a couple of your lower ribs has been seriously cracked."

Kitty was silent for a few seconds, commenting, "I guess that explains the pain in my chest. Is it that serious, doc?"

"Well, they're not broken." The doctor explained. "But it's going to take some time to heal up."

"I kind of figured that." Kitty replied with her head down, looking at the floor. "So, what do you recommend I do about it?"

"The best thing to do," The doctor told her, "is to rest. Let them heal on their own. Since the cracks aren't too severe, they won't need any special treatment on our part for them to do so."

"You want me to take time off of my job?" Kitty inquired.

"For at least a couple of days." The doctor reiterated. "If you try to do much physical activity, you'll risk injuring them further."

Kitty was now silent again, soon saying firmly, "I'm afraid I won't be able to do that."

Her physician looked at her a bit confused, as the feline agent explained, "G.U.N's planning to raid Eggman's base very soon. I can't just stand by and watch from the sidelines."

"Young lady," Her doctor said, "you do realize if you continue to be reckless, you could really hurt yourself, maybe even have one of them puncture your lungs."

Kitty knew this was true, but replied, "I'm aware of the risk, doc. But at the same time, I have an obligation to my friends. They really need my help now, and I can't just sit idly by and let something bad happen to them." She then added with sadness in her voice, "They're the only friends I have now."

At this point, the female doctor had to admire her courage and loyalty. So, she said to Kitty, "Well, if you can get the Commander to clear you for the mission, then I won't stop you."

"Thanks." Kitty replied with a faint smile.

"Anyway, if you really are serious about fighting in this condition," her doctor continued. "Then I suggest you wear thick padding near the cracked rib area to protect you for now."

"I suppose you're right." Kitty said, thinking it over. "But won't it hinder my agility?"

"Yes, but that's better than the alternative of serious injury, wouldn't you say?"

Kitty couldn't argue with that. So, she nodded her head, replying, "Ok then, I'll go get one before I leave."

"Glad to hear it." The doctor said with a smile. She then added while removing her rubber gloves off her hands, "Anyway, other than the ribs, you're in pretty good shape overall, so you can leave now if you want to."

"Fine by me." Kitty commented, getting off the examining table. "I need to check on my friends anyhow."

Kitty then headed for the door, with the doctor saying to her before she could leave, "Hey." The feline agent quickly turned around, looking at her confused as the doctor added, "I wish you luck on your quest to help G.U.N get rid of Eggman."

"Thanks." Kitty replied softly.

And with that word, the feline agent headed out of the room and walked towards the rooms of Sonic, Tails and Amy. Since she had seen which rooms they had been sent to before going to her own, Kitty knew exactly where they were. She decided to visit Sonic's room first since she wanted to make sure he was ok for now. Due to it being close by, it took Kitty less a minute to arrive there.

Once Kitty stepped inside, she thankfully saw Sonic was doing ok from the look on his face in his hospital bed. Even his right shoulder was wrapped in bandages now, using ice packs to help ease the pain.

What she didn't expect was that Tails and Amy were also in the room as well. She then asked them both, "Why aren't you guys in other rooms getting medical treatment?"

Tails answered her softly, "Well, since I only have a sprain, they just wrapped my knee in elastic bandages with several ice packs. And, Amy wouldn't stay in her room after they bandaged up her right side again." Tails had said this while in a wheel chair, as the doctors wanted him to keep his knee elevated for the time being.

Kitty then sensed a lot of anger from Amy in her body language, as she soon demanded, "Why didn't you tell me my Sonikku was seriously hurt, Kitty? He could have died and I wouldn't have had a chance to be by his side! That was really rotten of you!"

Kitty knew she had a point, but answered softly, "I did it because I saw how hysterical you were acting when you were asking about Sonic's condition back at the mansion. I couldn't risk you making it worse with you freaking out over his cuts. Not to mention you were driving the paramedics a little bit nuts."

"How dare you!" Amy lashed out, pointing a finger at her. "I would never do anything to hurt my beloved hero worse than he already was!" Sonic meanwhile was starting to feel deeply embarrassed by her yelling and pet names.

"I know you like to squeeze him tightly." Kitty countered, now frowning at her a bit. "That is the last thing Sonic needed with his chest seriously cut up. Be rational about this, Amy. I did this with his best interest at heart."

Amy was still angry with her, but couldn't find a rebuttal for her reasons now. So, the pink hedgehog said to her with a deep glare, "Fine, I guess I'll overlook your antics this time. But when Sonic is well enough to come home, I'm taking care of him personally."

Sonic's cheeks by now were deeply flushed, as he put his pillow over his head, groaning to himself, completely embarrassed inside.

Kitty though didn't protest, as she replied with her shoulders crossed, "Fine, be my guest."

Amy instantly squealed with delight, as she ran towards Sonic's bed and hugged him tightly, saying dreamily, "This is going to be so wonderful. Just think, I'll be your personal caretaker, making sure you get better and watching you 24/7. I'll even cook special meals for you, my special hedgehog."

To put it lightly, Sonic was not the least bit excited about this idea. _Oh, great, just my luck! _

Kitty then walked over to the other side of his bed, saying to Sonic, "I hate to say it, but I think this is for the best. It'll only be until you get back on your feet."

"You can't be serious." Sonic replied, looking at her in disbelief. "She's going to drive me crazy the whole time." Amy was still clinging tightly to him even then.

Kitty then told Amy firmly, "Stop squeezing him so tightly. You're going to make his wounds start bleeding again."

Amy though just stuck her tongue out at the feline agent in response, making Kitty groan with disgust while rolling her eyes. Sonic now spoke up, saying, "Please do it for me, Amy. I can't handle all this smothering at the moment."

Thankfully, Amy complied after hearing this, replying once she let go of him, "Well, ok then, I'll do it for you, my love."

With the pink hedgehog off his chest now, Sonic took some deep breaths, saying to Kitty with a look of gratitude on his face, "Thanks."

"Hey, why aren't you thanking me for wanting to take care of you?" Amy demanded with her hands at her waist. "I'm going to a lot of trouble here."

_I can't win no matter what I do. _Sonic thought to himself with a groan. He quickly said after that, "I do appreciate you wanting to taking care of me, Amy."

"You really mean that?" Amy inquired with a passionate look on her face.

"Yea, of course." Sonic though was mostly lying, as he couldn't stand the idea of her waiting on him hand and foot every waking minute.

Amy again was about to hug him tightly, when his doctor finally came in with a chart before she could, saying, "Well, how are you feeling, Mr. Hedgehog?"

"Could be better, doc." Sonic replied with his arms crossed with a frown.

"You're lucky you got help when you did." The doc explained. "Any longer, and you could have passed out from blood loss, or worse. Those were some really serious cuts you received."

Sonic realized this was true, so he said to Kitty while glancing at her, "I guess you saved my life again. Thanks."

"Don't mention it." the feline agent replied with a faint smile.

"Hey, what about me?" Amy demanded. "I helped save your life too."

The doctor chuckled, saying, "I'm sure they'll be plenty of time for thanks soon enough. Anyway, I need to give you an update on your condition."

"Ok, shoot, doc." Sonic said.

"Well, most of your wounds and burns are superficial," the doctor explained. "So they should heal up within a couple of days. It's your chest wound that I'm most concerned about. We may have to do put some stiches in to keep it from reopening."

Sonic though shook his head, "No way, doc. With my kind of physical activity, they'd reopen in no time."

"Why would you be doing any strenuous physical activity anyway?" The doctor argued. "You need to rest and let those wounds heal up."

"Easier said than done with Eggman on the loose." Sonic countered.

"You're not seriously thinking about going after him like this, are you?" The doctor inquired with arched eyebrows.

"Maybe not at the moment, but I will eventually." Sonic replied firmly. "I have to be on the front lines to put that Eggbelly in his place again when the time comes."

"You're crazy." The doctor told him. "You're going to risk your chest wound opening again, maybe even damaging an artery this time."

"I understand the dangers, doc, but I have to stop him." Sonic replied. "He killed a lot of my friends."

The doctor had to admit he had a point there, so he said, "Well, at least take it easy for a few days if nothing else. Your body needs time to mend those wounds of yours."

Amy then spoke up, saying, "Don't worry, sir, I'll take care good care of him and makes sure he gets plenty of rest for now."

"Well, how thoughtful of you, young lady." The physician commented. "I appreciate you going to the trouble of looking out for him."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all." Amy replied with a big grin. "It'll even be my pleasure."

Sonic again looked at Kitty, desperately hoping she would help him to try and talk her out of it. To his surprise, Kitty basically nodded her head, implying for him to go along with it for now.

"All right, Amy, you win." Sonic said with a deep sigh. "Just please be gentle with me."

"Don't worry about a thing, my blue hunk." Amy told him, stroking his head. "I'll be so good to you; you'll feel like a king."

_More like a child. _Sonic thought to himself with a groan.

Moments later, the G.U.N commander came into the room. Since his shoes made noise whenever he walked, Kitty quickly turned around and saw him. The look on his face deeply concerned her, as she could tell he wasn't happy about something.

"I heard you were in here." he said firmly. "I need to speak with you about something in private."

"Uh, sure, Commander."

Kitty hesitantly walked out of the room with him in front of her. Once they were in the hallway, he stopped and turned around to look at the feline agent in the eye sternly.

"Is there something wrong, sir?" she asked with awkwardness.

"You might say that." he replied a bit sharply.

Before Kitty could explain herself, the Commander inquired her, "You mind telling what in the world happened at the Thorndyke mansion?"

"Well, to put it briefly," Kitty answered softly. "Eggman sent a machine to attack us, quite violently too."

"I see…" he said, still looking at her intently. "But that still doesn't explain why you were there."

Kitty could sense he was displeased about her being there, so she told him trying to diffuse the situation, "Sir, I wasn't just there for a friendly visit."

"Is that a fact?"

"Yes, Commander. I wouldn't lie to you about that."

"Then what were you doing there then?" he demanded.

"Well, I was actually getting together with Sonic and Tails to help form a strategy." Kitty replied.

"A strategy?"

"Yes. Since you're planning a raid within the next couple of days, I was hoping to get them onboard to help us out."

The G.U.N Commander was now in deep thought, as he didn't know how to respond to it without sounding selfish.

"Did you not want them involved?" Kitty inquired.

"It's not that…" The Commander replied, now looking at the floor. "But the truth of the matter is, Sonic and his friends are really starting to make our agency look bad when it comes to battling Eggman."

"Oh, I see."

"Don't get me wrong." He explained. "I'm glad for all the help they've given us over the past months, but to put it frankly, this is a battle I'd rather they stay out of."

"Why is that?"

"Because this is personal." The Commander told her firmly. "That mad man attacked our city and humiliated G.U.N big time. I cannot accept that any longer."

Kitty couldn't help but feel uneasy inside, as he didn't even mention those who lost their lives during Eggman's assault this time.

She then asked him, "Are you trying to tell me you don't want them to help you win this battle?"

The Commander again paused, as he couldn't answer the way he wanted to without looking bad. So, he answered instead, "No, not exactly. I just want Sonic and his friends to let us handle the heavy stuff of this upcoming raid."

"But they can be a valuable asset to our cause." Kitty argued.

"I'm aware of that." he reiterated a bit loudly. "Nonetheless, I would prefer it if they wouldn't keep stealing our thunder. We are supposed to be the city's protectors after all."

At this point, Kitty was shocked by his attitude. _I don't believe this. He doesn't want them involved just because it makes G.U.N look bad? How can he be so self-centered?_

The feline agent soon was soon in deep thought, as she didn't know how to respond to this statement of his. The Commander though could sense she was displeased with his words, so he said to her, trying to make himself look better, "Sonic and his friends are in no position to help us now anyway after ending up with serious injuries. It would be very foolish on their part to have them on the front lines and then perhaps even injure themselves further. Would you not agree?"

Kitty though did understand that, but still wasn't convinced they should sit this one out if they could fight. She then answered him, "I guess so…."

"I thought you would see it my way." he said with a sly grin. "Anyway, make sure you're at G.U.N HQ at 9am tomorrow. That is when I will show my plans to strike back at the Eggman Empire."

"Sure thing, sir. You can count on me."

"Good." He then turned to leave, but instructed her before doing so, "Make sure you get have the proper padding for your cracked ribs before coming to the meeting."

"Are you clearing me to fight?" She inquired.

The Commander now looked at her intently and replied, "Of course. After all, you can still walk and use your arms, so I see no reason why you can't be there."

Kitty was relieved inside to hear that, since she wasn't sure if she would have to sit out as well. Seconds later, the Commander walked out of the hallway and was soon out of sight.

Kitty meanwhile walked back to the room and told Sonic and the others what he had said to her.

"Say what?" Sonic was very disgusted to say the least. "The G.U.N Commander doesn't want us there?"

"I'm afraid so." Kitty replied softly. "I can tell he's very jealous of all of you since you've had Eggman's number from the get go."

"That's just ridiculous." Tails remarked frowning, now speaking up. "With Eggman still a very serious threat, he's going to need as many reinforcements as possible."

"I know." Kitty said with sigh. "But I don't know what to do to change his mind. If I try to get you guys involved, I fear he might give me disciplinary action, or even worse…"

Sonic then spoke up again and said firmly, "It's not going to happen. That big shot G.U.N commander is not going to get away with his little ego trip this time."

"What do you suggest we do then?" Amy inquired.

"Well, since he doesn't want us there, we'll just show up uninvited anyway." Sonic replied with a grin. "What's he going to do, kick us out? Not likely with the big following we have from the citizens."

Kitty had to admire Sonic's boldness, as she asked, "Are you sure you want to take this risk with G.U.N in spite of your injuries?"

"You bet I do." He told her sharply. "Cuts or no cuts, I'm going to fight Eggman when the battle is on. No one is going to stop me."

Kitty then heard Tails say, "Same here."

Amy even added her own two cents, saying, "Me too."

At this point, the feline agent didn't even bother to talk them out of it any longer. She instead looked at them deeply impressed, commenting, "I gotta say, you Mobians are very tough individuals."

"Hey, I was born to be tough." Sonic retorted with a sly grin.

Kitty couldn't help but chuckle at his comment. She then said to everyone a few seconds later, "Thanks for sticking with me, guys. I really appreciate it."

"No prob." Sonic answered.

"I still don't know how I'm going to inform you about G.U.N's upcoming mission plans without getting myself in trouble." Kitty added with a sigh.

"I think I may have an idea." Tails replied confidently.

"Really?"

Tails now motioned for her to lean in. After she did, he whispered in her ear what he had in mind. Seconds later, Kitty flashed a grin, "Oh, I like that." She then added commenting, "You are really one smart fox."

Tails blushed heavily at her compliment, replying while looking away embarrassed, "Aw, thanks. You're too kind."

"Ok, guys." Kitty said. "I better get back to HQ for now so the Commander doesn't get suspicious of me spending too much time here."

"We understand." Amy replied softly.

"If Tails' plan goes through without any problems," the feline agent explained. "I'll be at the mansion tomorrow e around noon."

"Sounds good." The two tailed fox said encouraged. He then waved at her, saying, "Take care, Kitty."

Kitty quickly waved back at him and the others while walking away and then headed out the door. Once she was out of sight, Tails sighed heavily with a smile on his face, as he still felt very euphoric about her complimenting him.

Amy though noticed his facial expressions, asking him, "Uh, are you ok?"

Tails quickly snapped out of his trance, replying while shaking his head, "N-nothing. I-I-I was just daydreaming."

"Daydreaming?" Amy then looked at Tails firmly and stated, "If I didn't know better, you look like someone who's in love."

That remark completely freaked him out, as Tails heavily stammered, "N-n-n-o. That's c-crazy t-talk. I-I-I was daydreaming about something else. Honest."

"Like what then?" Amy inquired with suspicion.

At this moment, Tails just couldn't find the words to explain it away. Thankfully though, Sonic tried to bail him out, saying, "I think Tails just really misses his X-Tornado is all."

"Yea, that's it." Tails said with a sheepish grin.

Amy though wasn't 100% convinced, as she asked him, "Are you sure you don't have a crush on someone?"

Tails again stammered, "N-n-no. I-I don't. I-I'm too young for that anyway."

"Why are you getting so defensive about this then?" Amy inquired.

"It's just… very embarrassing for me to talk about." He explained awkwardly.

Thankfully for the two tailed fox, Amy didn't push it any further. Nonetheless, she was still very suspicious. _I don't think Tails is being completely honest with about this. He seems to be completely flustered whenever I mention anything about love and romance._

She then thought, _Funny thing though, he didn't show any signs of this until after Kitty was in the room. Does that mean he…_

Amy then almost did a double take, pondering deeply, _is it possible that he might have crush on her?_

Amy though brushed this thought aside few seconds later, thinking, _No, no, no, that's just silly. Tails in love with Kitty? Not possible. Besides, she's got to at least be in her twenties. Not to mention her dating him would just be so wrong anyway._

"Amy?"

Amy now lost her train of thought, as she saw Sonic looking at her intently, making her feel a bit awkward inside herself "Huh?"

"Are you feeling all right?" he asked.

The pink hedgehog chuckled nervously, replying, "Yea, I'm fine, Sonikku. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I couldn't help but notice you were in deep thought." Sonic commented with arched eyebrow. "Is something on your mind?"

"Oh, uh, I was just thinking about all the wonderful things I was going to do for you once we're at the mansion." Amy explained with a smile.

"I see."

"It's going to be so wonderful, I can hardly wait." Amy added, sighing happily.

_I sure can. _Sonic thought with a slight frown.

The following day at G.U.N HQ, the big meeting finally took place. Every G.U.N agent was there, as the Commander addressed them in front of the room.

"Everyone, the time has come for us to prepare to strike back and rid our city of that mad scientist, Eggman."

Kitty and Topaz sat together near the back, as they were ready to take down notes.

"At exactly dawn tomorrow, our entire G.U.N army will launch out towards the Eggman base and surround it."

He then said while pointing towards a big computer screen in front of him, "G.U.N's air forces will be stationed from the rear. The navy will take the left and right side while the ground forces shall come around from the front."

Kitty quickly wrote down everything he was saying in her notebook, as she was going to get this information to Sonic and the others as soon as possible.

"After everyone's in place, we shall give him once chance to surrender." The G.U.N commander explained. "If he won't cooperate, we shall open fire unmercifully."

He then added a few seconds later, "On my signal, should Eggman refuse to surrender, the air forces will strike the backside, followed by the navy ships on each side, and then the tanks from the front. If pulled off correctly, his base will crumble within seconds."

Kitty had to admit, the plan was solid. Nonetheless though, she knew Eggman would not go down quietly that easily.

"Any questions?"

Kitty quickly raised her hand. "Yes, agent Katswell?"

"What about Eggman's countermeasures, sir?" she inquired. "More than likely he will have some kind of system installed that could neutralize any oncoming missile we shoot at him."

The G.U.N commander though blew her off, replying, "I'm not the least bit worried about that. With every weapon and soldier at our disposal, any weapon Eggman tries to use to stop our assault will soon be dealt with. There's no way he'll be able to stop every weapon we fire at him."

His answer somewhat satisfied Kitty's concern, but still did not feel that much more confident inside.

The G.U.N commander then said to everyone after a brief pause, "In case you're still not sure where you're supposed to be positioned; I have a stapled handout, detailing everyone's position and what you're supposed to do."

Within seconds, he took a large group of papers on his desk and passed them out to everyone. Due to so many people in the room, Kitty didn't get one for about ninety seconds. But when she did get one, she was disappointed to say the least.

_What? I'm going to be positioned near the back of the ground forces?_

Kitty couldn't help but wonder if the Commander had done this on purpose as a way to indirectly punish her for taking on Eggman without his permission.

_This is so not fair. _She thought angrily. _After all the crap I went through with Eggman on his Egg Carrier, I deserve at least to be able to help somewhat on the front lines._

What made it even worse was the fact Rouge was positioned ahead of her.

_It's like she gets rewarded for being a conniving troublemaker, but I get punished for doing the right thing._

Eventhough this decision did upset her, she decided not to dwell on it since it was pointless.

Seconds later, Commander Tower finished his speech, saying, "Make sure you are here at HQ at exactly 5am tomorrow on the dot. Do not be late. Tardiness will not be tolerated. Do I make myself clear?"

Everyone in the room nodded their heads, making him add, "All right, you are all dismissed."

As everyone began to file out, Kitty was tempted to talk to the Commander about her position, but thought better of it a few seconds later.

_I'll let my actions do the talking for me. That way he'll have to see the potential I have here as a G.U.N agent. _

With her handout and notes in hand, Kitty decided to get a copy of this to Sonic and Tails, but do it in a way that wouldn't arouse any suspicion from the G.U.N commander.

_I know. I'll scan these papers and make it look I'm making a backup copy for myself._

Kitty then walked over to one of the G.U.N computers, placing one paper at a time, scanning it thoroughly. Thankfully for her, nobody suspected Kitty of doing anything out of the ordinary.

However, while she was scanning the papers, Kitty happened to see Rouge at one of the other computers, looking up some information. While it appeared that she was just looking up some information to help with tomorrow's raid, it was the expression on her face that made Kitty very suspicious.

_What is she looking up anyway?_

Unfortunately for Kitty, she didn't get a chance to find out, as Rouge quickly finished up her browsing and left. But before she did, she saved some files to a flash drive, intensifying the feline agent's suspicions.

_I do not trust her one bit. She is definitely up to something._

However, with no time to investigate, Kitty decided to let it go for now. Instead, she decided to ask the Commander about something. She happened to see him walking out the front door after finishing her own work. She then went after him and said, "Commander, I need to talk to you about something."

"Look, if it's about where you're being positioned, don't bother." He replied a bit gruffly. "The more experienced agents are near the front. That's just the way we do things here. Nothing personal."

"No, it's not about that, sir." Kitty answered softly.

This response somewhat disarmed him, as he inquired, "Oh, then what is it?"

"Well, I've been thinking about what you said about the fact G.U.N being the protectors of the city."

"Yes?"

"Well, you're right."

"I am?" Hearing this now completely confused him. "Ok, what's the catch, agent Katswell?" he demanded. "This is not like you."

"I just was wondering, sir," Kitty said softly. "Since Sonic and his friends are really banged up at the moment, would you mind if I personally protected their home since they're currently in no shape to do so on their own?"

Commander Tower was now in deep thought, as he didn't know how to answer this. He then asked, "And what would you be your reasoning for going there?"

"Like you said, we're the protectors of this city." Kitty explained. And since they're big celebrities here, it's important they get the proper protection so nothing bad happens to them."

"Hmm, you do have a point." The commander said, thinking it over while placing a hand on his chin. He then looked at her, adding firmly, "But that still doesn't answer of my question why you want to do it."

"Well, because they're really good friends of mine, sir." Kitty replied. "I only want to keep them safe."

"Is that really your only reason?" he inquired sharply.

"Well, yea, of course." Kitty answered hesitantly.

"Really? So you have no ulterior motives, say, like wanting to get them informed about our raid tomorrow?"

Kitty instantly felt a little panicked inside after the Commander asked this, as she could sense he saw right through her, but kept her resolve, replying, "Oh, no, sir. I wouldn't do that behind your back."

"How can I be assured of this?" he asked, eyeing her intently.

"Have one of your officers give a complete pat down if you don't believe me, Commander." Kitty told him confidently. "I have left all my papers about the raid tomorrow here."

"All right then, I will."

Within a minute, a female G.U.N agent came out of HQ after being called for by the Commander, where she gave Kitty a complete pat down. As it turned out, Kitty had indeed left her papers behind.

"Hmmm, I guess you were telling me the truth." The Commander commented while placing a hand on his chin. He then said to her after he dismissed the female G.U.N agent, "Ok, I guess I'll allow you to watch over them for today."

Kitty sighed a sigh of relief, saying, "Thank you, sir."

"Just make sure you are here tomorrow at 5am." He reiterated firmly. "No excuses."

"You can count on me, sir." Kitty answered, saluting him. "I won't let you down."

The Commander gave her a slight smile, saying, "Glad to hear it. You keep the right attitude around here, and you'll be moving up the ranks in no time."

Kitty nodded her head, as he said, "Anyway, if you'll excuse me, I must leave to put the final touches on my battle plans tomorrow. Good day to you."

Before he could take a step though, she asked, "Commander, may I ask one more favor?"

He turned around slowly, saying, "Yes?"

"Do I have your permission to bring several weapons with me to the mansion in order to do the job well?"

The Commander again sighed, replying annoyed, "Yes, take as many as you need. Now I must be off."

"I understand." Kitty answered. "Take care, sir."

The Commander gave her a slight nod in response and then went on his way. While he was walking away, Kitty thought with a slight grin, _Good thing I hid my flash drive in one my boots. I had a feeling he might do a thorough search._

As it turned out, Kitty had placed it in a special containment area within the top of her right boot.

_Ok, time to grab my gear and head over there ASAP._

And with that thought, Kitty ran back inside G.U.N HQ as fast as she could.

Meanwhile at Eggman's base an hour later, the mad doctor was in the process of preparing for Phase 2 of his plan.

"Since my upgraded E-2000 did so well, I'll send the updated E-2000R this time and hopefully finish off that meddling feline G.U.N agent once and for all."

Deep down, he did not want to his secret ally intervening about allowing Kitty to live any longer. _The longer she sticks her nose in my affairs, the more damage she's likely to do, and I can't allow it._

Eggman then activated his E-2000R and prepared for it to invade the mansion. Before he did though, he made one last inspection to make sure everything was in order. As expected, it was in perfect working condition.

"Excellent." Eggman commented with a grin. "If this goes according to plan, Agent Katswell will be wiped out within five minutes top. Heh heh!"

And with that, the mad doctor input the commands from his control panel. Instantly, his E-2000R flew out of the base, with Eggman soon tagging along from behind in his Eggmobile, as he wanted an up close and personal experience of her demise.

Again, unknown to Eggman, his secret ally had overheard everything.

_So, Eggman thinks he can pull a fast one on me, does he? Well, he's in for a rude surprise then. If anyone's plan is going to take down that meddlesome feline, it's going to be mine._

Several seconds later, the mysterious figure left the building in hot pursuit, flying after him.


	12. A Tale of 2 Emerls Part 3

Meanwhile at Eggman's base an hour later, the mad doctor was in the process of preparing for Phase 2 of his plan.

"Since my upgraded E-2000 did so well, I'll send the updated E-2000R this time and hopefully finish off that meddling feline G.U.N agent once and for all."

Deep down, he did not want to his secret ally intervening about allowing Kitty to live any longer. The longer she sticks her nose in my affairs, the more damage she's likely to do, and I can't allow it.

Eggman then activated his E-2000R and prepared for it to invade the mansion. Before he did though, he made one last inspection to make sure everything was in order. As expected, it was in perfect working condition.

"Excellent." Eggman commented with a grin. "If this goes according to plan, Agent Katswell will be wiped out within five minutes top. Heh heh!"

And with that, the mad doctor input the commands from his control panel. Instantly, his E-2000R flew out of the base, with Eggman soon tagging along from behind in his Eggmobile, as he wanted an up close and personal experience of her demise.

Again, unknown to Eggman, his secret ally had overheard everything.

_So, Eggman thinks he can pull a fast one on me, does he? Well, he's in for a rude surprise then. If anyone's plan is going to take down that meddlesome feline, it's going to be mine._

Several seconds later, the mysterious figure left the building in hot pursuit, flying after him.

About 25 minutes earlier at the Thorndyke mansion, Kitty had arrived fully armed and ready to go. Taking no chances this time, the feline agent brought several weapons with her, including a M32 Grenade launcher with over a dozen 40mm additional grenades and a M249 SAW laser powered machine gun. Unlike her last prototype laser weapon, this was had a larger battery life. And, unlike last time, Kitty brought an additional battery pack also. She even brought several explosive weapons with her as well, such as a couple magnetic bombs from before, even a few grenades.

And, of course, at the advice of her doctor and Commander, she outfitted herself with a thick layer of padding around her lower chest in order to protect her ailing ribs.

To help her carry the extra rounds, she had brought her bag from before and placed the extra ammo inside.

One of the first places Kitty went to visit first was the garage, as she was planning to sneak the data about G.U.N's raid to Sonic and his friends. Not surprisingly, she found Tails underneath the X-Tornado, working on its electrical components in spite of his seriously sprained left knee. The two tailed fox was using a special rolling board in order to move around without putting much pressure.

Kitty then walked up to him, saying, "How you doing, Tails?"

Tails had been so busy and preoccupied; he didn't even notice her coming in. He quickly looked up after rolling away from his jet, and flashed a big smile at her, saying, "Oh, Kitty, hi."

It was then Tails noticed her gear, complimenting, "Well, don't you look like the top level G.U.N solider."

Kitty slightly blushed at his comment, replying, "Aw, thanks."

"So, uh, what brings you by?" Tails inquired curiously.

"Well, believe it or not, I got permission from the Commander to protect you guys until the raid takes place." Kitty explained.

"Really?" Tails looked at her intently, asking, "When you guys going out anyway?"

To protect herself in case someone from G.U.N was listening in, Kitty replied, "Well, unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to say."

"Oh, I see…" Tails was a bit disappointed, but understood nonetheless.

"Although, I'm sure you'll find about it eventually." Kitty told him with a smile on her face

She then winked at him, confusing the two tailed fox for a bit. At first, he thought, _is she… flirting with me? _

However, Tails quickly figured it out three seconds later, as he thought to himself, _oh wait, it's her code. She has information about G.U.N that she's going to give me under the table._

Tails then said to her, "Well, I'm sure I will. Thanks for letting me know."

"No problem." Kitty replied. Moments later, she asked, "So, how's Sonic and Amy doing?"

"Well, Sonic's recovering ok I guess," Tails answered. "Although, Amy's been driving him a bit crazy."

Kitty couldn't help but giggle to herself about that, commenting, "I can see why. Knowing Sonic, he probably doesn't have a moment's peace now."

"Yea, you might say that." Tails replied, trying to stifle a bit of a chuckle as well.

Kitty then cleared her throat after a brief pause, asking again, "Anyway, where's Cream? I haven't seen her once since I've been here."

"Oh, I'm having her do an experiment for me." Tails explained.

"Really? Like what?" Kitty was very curious about what he was talking about.

"Well, I wanted her to see how responsive that gray robot is to her commands. After she told me it saved our lives due to her telling it to do so, I had her go to the park and do a field test for me."

"You sure that's a smart idea, sending her out alone with that machine?" Kitty inquired concerned. "What if it turns on her?"

"I'm pretty sure she'll be fine for now." Tails replied. "After all, I had her do a few tests for me before sending them out. And, since the machine did everything she asked it to, I figured she should be safe for the next hour at least."

Kitty wasn't so sure of this strategy, but decided to trust him on it.

"Also, I probably should add, I needed some alone time now to work on my X-Tornado in peace." Tails said. "Knowing Cream, she and that robot would make all kinds of noise nearby."

"Yea, true…"

Kitty was now in deep thought, as she asked Tails several seconds while looking at him directly, "So, what do you think about that gray robot anyway? Do you believe its friend or foe?"

"Well, to be honest… I'm really not sure at the moment." Tails answered. "It seems friendly enough, but I can't tell how reliable it is or not."

As Kitty continued to ponder this, Tails added, "That's another reason why I had Cream field test it for me. I want to know how loyal this machine is to us exactly."

"I guess that move makes sense when you put it that way." Kitty concluded.

Again, she was silent, as she said to him some time later, "Tails, could I ask a favor from you?"

Tails looked up with another big smile on his face, replying, "Sure, anything for you. What do you need?"

"Well, I have a hunch Eggman may attempt to attack this place again," Kitty explained. "Maybe even today."

Tails was now in deep thought, as he replied, "You may be right about that. After all the damage did to us last time, who's to say he won't try again this soon?" He then inquired of her, "Anyway, what would you like me to do for you?"

"Well, can you build something that would be a diversion for me?" Kitty asked

"A diversion?"

"Yes, something that would fool Eggman into letting his guard down temporarily." The feline agent explained. "Something like… that would make a mirage of me."

Tails again placed a hand under his chin to think, replying with a snap of his fingers several seconds later, "You know, I think I may have just the device."

"Really?" Kitty looked on now deeply intrigued. "Is it already built?"

"Well, not exactly." Tails replied. "But, with a few modifications, I think I may be able to give you what you're looking for."

"Sounds good. Let's get started." Kitty said psyched up.

Tails though said to her softly, "Well, if you need it right way, I might need some help getting around since I can't put any pressure on my left knee without a lot pain."

"Oh, ok." Kitty replied. "Well, what can I do to help you then?"

Tails looked over at his work bench nearby that he had received from the hospital and asked of her hesitantly, "Um, would it be too much trouble to ask if you could pick me up and move me to my chair near the workbench?"

"Oh, no, not at all." Kitty answered. "I'd be happy to."

Kitty then gently picked up Tails from his rolling board underneath shoulders and eventually carried him there with the two tailed fox securely in her arms. Surprisingly, Tails didn't mind it at all. In fact, he was smiling the whole time while she carried him.

Ten seconds later, she carefully placed him on his chair near his bench. Tails then said to her with the same smile still on his face, "Thanks, Kitty."

"Don't mention it." she replied softly. "So, how long do you think it'll be until you have it ready?"

"Well, if I can get all the tools I need at my disposal," the two tailed fox said. "I should have it ready to go within thirty minutes or so."

"Ok then. Tell me what you need and I'll go get it for you." Kitty told him.

Sometime later, Eggman and his S-2000R arrived on the scene, now flying a hundred feet above the Thorndyke mansion. As he surveyed the scene, the mad scientist commented with a grin, "Perfect. She's here. I thought she might be stupid enough to come here this soon. Ah, there's nothing like skinning a meddlesome cat to wet my appetite before the big battle."

He then ordered his machine, "Go find agent Katswell and destroy her on sight!"

His machine instantly responded, as it flew closer to the surface below. Within seconds, the E-2000 spotted her in the front yard near the mansion, moving back and forth in a guard like manner.

Eggman, who was not that far behind his machine, watched with deep anticipation, hoping to witness her demise up close and personal.

His E-2000R would do just that, as it charged its laser cannon for several seconds and then fired a huge laser blast towards her. Within moments, the blast hit its target directly, resulting in a huge explosion. Pieces of grass, dirt and sidewalk went flying everywhere while smoke and fire bellowed from within. The E-2000R's laser attack had been so strong; it put a two foot crater in the ground.

Eggman waited for the smoke to clear, and once it did, he saw nothing left of his foe. Not even remains.

Completely psyched, the mad doctor pumped his fist in the air, as he was completely ecstatic now.

"I don't believe it! I actually got her!"

Tails, who happened to be in her garage on the opposite side of the house, poked his head out, as he had heard the explosion very clearly. He then heard Eggman add, "I finally got rid of that despicable pest! It was almost too easy as matter of fact!"

In that moment, Tails felt a lump in his throat. _No, there's no way he got her rid of her that quickly._

Eggman however pondered this over; thinking to himself, _one thing still troubles me. She didn't even try to evade or resist the attack at all. Is it possible my machine could have missed?_

The mad doctor though dismissed that concern, as he added, _Nah, I saw her there. There's no way she could have evaded a shot that big and disappear that quickly._

Tails meanwhile was trying to make sense of this, as he thought while flying towards the front yard; _this has to be a diversion on Kitty's part. It has to be! She just wouldn't take a hit without fighting back._

However, a part of him inside emotionally couldn't help but doubt.

_But what if I'm wrong? What if she really was vaporized from the attack? _

Eggman then said to his E-2000R, "Let's go. Our work here is done. With her gone, G.U.N will quickly crumble in her absence."

Seconds later, he turned around his Eggmobile and was preparing to leave. But before he could get twenty feet higher into the air, the mad scientist got the shock of his life, as he heard a loud explosion behind him.

"Huh? What the…?"

In that moment, he saw a terrifying sight. His E-2000R was getting blasted with 40mm grenades right and left. His machine was hit in the head, torso, even the legs, knocking it backwards abruptly, seriously damaging it with every explosion.

"Who in the…?"

Eggman then saw the culprit, making his jaw drop. It was none other than Kitty Katswell, walking towards him with a look of determination in her eyes while unloading grenades from her M32 at the S-2000R with complete fury. As it turned out, the feline agent had hiding in the bushes near the whole time.

"NO! This can't be!" Eggman shouted, putting his hands on his head in disbelief.

But it was. In less than ten seconds, Kitty had fired five grenades from her MGL directly at the S-2000R, eventually knocking to the ground flat on its back, seriously damaged.

Even Tails finally noticed her work, making him go from doubtful to complete joy inside emotionally. _I was right! It was all a setup!_

"Hey, Eggman!" Kitty shouted, while holding the M32 firmly in her arms. "Did you really think I would be taken down that easily?"

"How in the world did you survive that attack?" He demanded, pointing a finger at her. "I saw that laser blast vaporize you to bits!"

"Or you thought you did." Kitty retorted. "What you really saw was a holographic image."

At this point, Eggman was beside himself, as he couldn't believe he had bit on something that easily. To make matters worse, his machine still was on the ground, even sparking a bit.

"I thought you might be gullible enough to attack anything that resembled my form," Kitty told him sharply. "And I was right."

Eggman could barely contain his rage, as he said seething with his fists clinched, "You… You… YOU…!"

"Next time, Doctor, don't count your chickens before they hatch!" Kitty said boldly. "Looks like the laugh's on you this time!"

"That's what you think!" Eggman shot back. "I'm not out of tricks yet!"

Within seconds, he pulled out a C4 explosive device from his Eggmobile and held it high in the air in his right hand.

"Now, get a load of…"

Eggman had no time to finish that sentence, as Kitty had switched the M249 SAW laser machine gun while he was rummaging inside his hovercraft and fired over a dozen shots at him, forcing him to duck for cover.

"You were saying, Doctor?" Kitty countered.

Tails meanwhile cheered her on, saying with his right fist pumped high, "Way to go, Kitty! Show him who's boss!"

Eggman now growled at her, soon shouting to his E-2000R, "C'mon, you bucket of bolts! Get up and blast her!"

Kitty though paid no attention to his words, as she walked towards the machine still on the ground and now pointed her M32 at its head, ready to finish it off.

"Sorry, doctor, but looks like I'm the one getting the early KO this time!"

Kitty then prepared to fire the trigger, but to her shock, the E-2000R abruptly smacked her aside with its shield. As a result, Kitty was knocked fifteen feet backwards on the ground with her MGL still in hand, seriously stunned.

Eggman's machine then got back on its feet, with the mad doctor shouting, "Get her! Blast that meddling cat to pieces!"

His machine instantly responded, as it prepared to fire.

_Oh shoot! _Kitty thought to herself a bit concerned.

The feline agent was instantly forced to take evasive maneuvers, as it soon fired after several large blasts at her with complete fury. Within seconds, Kitty dove inside in the mansion, realizing she was too vulnerable in the open area.

Eggman at this point grinned. "Ha! I got her cornered now!" He gloated.

Kitty meanwhile took refuge in the living room, as she prepared to counterstrike.

_I'll have to duck and shoot for the time being. _She thought to herself.

Kitty then clutched her MGL tightly in her hands, preparing to fire her final round in an attempt to buy her some time.

But before she could, she witnessed a horrifying sight, as the E-2000R had begun to blast the three windows in the living room to pieces.

Instantly, glass shards went flying everywhere, again forcing Kitty to dive of out harm's way. Thankfully, none of the shards had hit her, but to make things even dicier for the feline G.U.N agent, the living room carpet was now mostly covered with fragments of glass.

Eggman then shouted, "Yes! That's it! You got her cornered now! Flush that troublemaker out!"

His machine again complied, as it charged up a laser shot and quickly fired. Kitty again was startled, as she saw the charged laser attack blast a big hole into the left side of the living room wall, coming within three feet of hitting her.

The rumblings of this attack even got the attention of Sonic, who was upstairs, being carefully attended to against his will by Amy Rose.

He soon sat up and asked, "What was that?"

"I don't know." Amy Rose replied softly, a bit concerned about it herself.

Sonic quickly went to the window, and there he saw who the culprit was. "Eggman's attacking us again?"

Completely fed up inside, Sonic said angrily, "I've had enough of that mad man's surprise visits! It's time for me to give him one of his own!"

Amy though wasn't about to let him go, as she grabbed Sonic by the right arm and said, "Sonic, you are in no condition to go out and fight Eggman now."

"But Amy…"

The pink hedgehog unfortunately wouldn't let him finish, as she put two fingers on his lips and said softly, trying to settle him down. "Kitty's right out front. I'm sure she'll be able to handle this on her own just fine."

"But… But…"

"And she has Tails to help her out too if necessary." Amy reiterated. "So just relax, will you?"

Sonic didn't want to agree to this at all, but with extreme reluctance, he decided to give in for the time being.

_I don't have a good feeling about this. _Sonic thought to himself with a frown. _I doubt Kitty and Tails will be able to handle Eggbelly so easily._

Tails at this point was deeply concerned, as he didn't know what to do. _I gotta help her. But how? _

It didn't help matters that he could barely walk due to his badly sprained left knee.

_Do I dare fly towards the machine and get its attention?_

While Tails pondered this over, the E-2000R continued its rampage, as it charged up another laser blast, preparing to blast another big hole into the living room wall. Kitty at this point decided to take a chance. While she heard the machine charging up again, she crawled carefully underneath the windows, as she was trying to get to the right side of the room.

Kitty thankfully guessed right, as the middle of the living room was the E-2000R's next target. Seconds later, the machine fired, blasting another large hole into the wall. Trying to take advantage of the situation, Kitty quickly poked her head up on the right side and fired her last remaining grenade currently in her M32 at the E-2000R a split second after it had fired.

Her aim was directly on target, as she managed to aim it at the E-2000R's head. But unfortunately for her, the machine had razor sharp reflexes, blocking the attack with its shield. The attack unfortunately was mostly negated, with the shield took the brunt of the blow.

_Drat! _Kitty thought to herself. _My grenade launcher is empty now. I'll have to reload it. _

That unfortunately was easier said than done, as the E-2000R was giving her little time to reload. Not to mention the spring device within the M32 had to be reset in order to fire more grenades.

Moments later, The E-2000R charged up again and fired at the right side of the wall this time, blasting another hole into the living room wall. Kitty though was able to adjust this time, as she dove behind the couch before it could hit her.

Nonetheless, with three glaring holes in the living room now, Kitty knew she was very vulnerable now.

Eggman meanwhile ordered his machine, "Keep firing! Give her no place to hide!"

Again, the E-2000R complied, as it now charged up a fourth time, aiming for the left side of the room a second time.

Needing to buy some time, Kitty decided to bait the machine with a decoy move. She then grabbed her M249 SAW and fired a dozen shots through the hole in the middle of the living room. Instantly, the E-2000R saw this and responded, firing several laser shots back to try and hit her. Kitty though was on the right side of the room, as the couch took the brunt of the blow, shielding her from any of its effects.

Seeing it respond the way she wanted it to, Kitty now looked behind her and saw the mirror in the living room still unscathed.

_That gives me an idea. _She thought with a grin.

Within moments, Kitty fired several dozen laser shots at the mirror at a left angle, hoping it would deflect and come out the left side of the room. As thought, it did indeed. Again, the E-2000R saw the shots coming, and responded, moving over to the left side a third time and firing several shots inside.

Kitty's decoy move paid off, as she was able to subtly sneak out of the living room unnoticed. Eggman though by now was losing his patience with the E-2000R's progress, as he ordered his machine, "No more toying around with her! Just blast that meddling G.U.N to pieces!"

Again, his machine responded, now firing rapidly into the living room with fury, destroying everything within the room one piece at a time.

_My machine will either vaporize her, or she'll be forced to come out of hiding in order to save her own fur. _Eggman thought to himself with a grin. _And then, it's bye bye kitty._

However, unknown to Eggman, Kitty was now in the kitchen and cautiously making her way out the back door.

_I'll have to take it by surprise in order to inflict more damage on it. _Kitty thought. _And I think I know just the weapon to use in order to catch it off guard._

Kitty thankfully had her weapons bag on her during this time, as she decided this was the right moment to use one of her special explosive devices.

While she continued to make her towards the back door, Tails still struggled within himself, trying to decide whether or not to help her out.

_I want to help her, but I don't know how without hurting myself further or even putting Kitty in a bind. What do I do?_

Meanwhile, the E-2000R at this point had blasted everything in the living room. The couch, cabinets, TV, everything, was in pieces or seriously charred from its laser attacks. Still, there was no response from Kitty, now making Eggman growl inside.

_Where is she? _Eggman pondered with frustration. _I know she didn't escape to another room because I would have seen it._

Eggman then ordered his machine, "Fire another few charged laser shots just to make sure you toasted her!"

Instantly, his machine responded, as it quickly charged up and fired a laser blast into the middle of the room. It soon did the same to the left and right sides of the room as well. But again, no movement from Kitty.

Kitty by this time had managed to sneak out the back door and carefully ran towards the front of the home, soon hiding behind the left corner of the mansion.

_Ok, I'll have to time this perfectly. _Kitty thought. _Here goes nothing._

Seconds later, Eggman finally lost his cool, as he ordered his E-2000R, "Enough of this nonsense! Go in there and bring her out! I want her personally executed in my presence if she's still alive."

Hearing this put a lump in Tails' throat, as he couldn't help but be deeply concerned about Kitty's fate. However, he managed to see something peering from the left corner of the mansion, making him wonder, _huh? Is that… Kitty?_

Tails' guess was right on the money. In that instant, Kitty took the offensive. As the E-2000R was about to go inside the mansion, she instantly made her move. The feline agent quickly grabbed a magnetic explosive device and heaved it as hard as she could towards the machine. Thanks to the magnetic structure, the bomb clung to the head of Eggman's super machine, exploding with intensity two seconds later.

Eggman quickly looked on dumbfounded, but soon saw the culprit, making him seethe inside again.

"YOU AGAIN?"

With the E-2000R clearly stunned by the bomb, Kitty instantly went to attack. Grabbing her M249 SAW laser machine gun, she unloaded dozens of rounds at its head, trying to attack the small hole her magnetic bomb had made. Within seconds, her lasers began to inflict serious damage to the E-2000's internal components.

Seeing the catastrophe that this could become, Eggman said, "Oh, no you don't!"

The mad doctor then swooped down in his Eggmobile in an attempt to get her out of position. Unfortunately for Kitty, she didn't see it in time to shoot at him. Instead, she was forced to dive out of the way, as Eggman was trying to slam his hovercraft against her.

Thanks to Eggman's interruption, the E-2000R was able to regain its focus without further damage to its structure, resulting in it quickly pointing its laser weapon at Kitty, ready to fire at her again.

Thinking fast, Kitty grabbed her weapon again and ran towards a nearby tree for some protection. The E-2000R nonetheless still fired shot after shot to try and hit her, but missed due to her high agility.

Once she was behind the tree, Kitty again fired a few dozen rounds at Eggman's machine again, trying to inflict more damage to its electrical components. But unfortunately, the E-2000R deflected each shot with ease, using its shield to block every oncoming laser.

Eggman then tried to dive bomb her again with his Eggmobile. However, Kitty saw him coming this time, quickly changing direction, as she fired multiple lasers at his hovercraft's engine. Not expecting this, Eggman's transportation was hit several times, resulting in moderate damage to its structure.

Forced to take drastic action, Eggman wildly changed direction in order to keep his Eggmobile from receiving any more damage. Seeing this put a smile on Kitty's face, that is until she heard Tails yell, "Kitty, look out!"

Kitty quickly turned her head, and there she the E-2000R preparing to fire while charging up its laser attack. Within seconds, it fired. Kitty then dove out of harm's way, as the laser blast destroyed the tree, reducing it to a charred stump.

Deciding to give it no chance to fire again, Kitty unleashed dozens of rounds at the E-2000R's head. But again, it used its shield to block her laser shots.

_This is getting me nowhere! _Kitty thought angrily while firing. _I'm going to have to hit this monstrosity with another bomb in order to get it off balance._

Kitty then quickly, but carefully grabbed a M67 grenade with her left hand while using the right to fire and prepared to toss it. But again, Eggman saw her move and went to run interference again. However, he would not succeed this time, as Tails finally decided to help, bad knee or not.

_I can't let Eggman double team her. Kitty will have no chance to win if this keeps up. _

As Eggman came closer to ram her again, Tails came flying in, punching the mad doctor in the face. Taking completely by surprise, Eggman instantly flinched, saying while rubbing his nose, "Ow! Why you little pest!"

Eggman then tried to swing back with his fists, as he had no weapons to fire attack the two tailed fox except for the C4 explosives, and he was saving that for Kitty.

Meanwhile, Kitty abruptly stooped shooting, as she had to use her right hand in order to remove the safety clip. The E-2000R though didn't take long to remove its shield in front of it and attempt to blast her with another laser shot. Kitty however beat it to the punch, as the she tossed the grenade directly right at its arm cannon. A split second later after it fired, the grenade connected with the laser attack, exploding on impact.

The explosion seriously stunned the E-2000R in the process. In fact, it was big enough; Kitty had to back flip out of harm's way about three feet. But once she landed on the ground, she again unleashed her M249 SAW, as the feline agent fired dozens of more rounds at the E-2000's head, trying to destroy it from within.

As each shot directly hit the machine's electronic components, Kitty could sense it was on the verge of self-destructing. Unfortunately for her, her weapon let her down, as it soon stopped firing before the E-2000R could be finished off.

_You gotta be kidding me! Out already? _

Unfortunately for Kitty, it was true. Her laser powered M249 SAW was out of battery juice.

_Great, just what I need._

Kitty then tried to switch battery packs, but again soon saw the E-2000R was no longer stunned, as it quickly tried to take Kitty out once more.

_Man, things just don't go my way when I need them to._

Kitty unfortunately had to multitask between changing the battery packs and evading the oncoming lasers. It would turn out to be a very difficult challenge.

On the other side of the front yard, Tails was doing all he could to keep Eggman from hindering Kitty's progress of destroying his machine. It wasn't long before both of them got into a grappling match in the air, trying to force the other into submission. To neither of their surprise, both of them fought valiantly. Tails though fought the hardest, as he could not stand the thought of Eggman killing her.

As they continued to struggle to take down their foe, Tails proclaimed with vigor, "I won't let you succeed, Eggman."

"You're only asking for more pain, brat!" Eggman retorted. "Why don't you do yourself a favor and give up?"

"Never!" Tails shouted. "I won't let you harm Kitty if I have anything to say about it!"

Eggman then thought to himself, _I must admit, to fight me this hard with an injured leg is quite admirable on his part. Nonetheless, his attempts will be in vain when it's all said and done!_

While this was going on, Kitty and the E-2000R continued to duel. Eggman's machine though turned up the heat on her after regaining its senses, as it fired laser after laser, trying to roast her. Kitty meanwhile was having a whale of a time trying to evade and install the new battery pack into her M249 SAW laser machine gun at the exact same time.

It soon got to the point where she could barely hang onto the gun while taking evasive action. Over thirty seconds soon passed, with the same results again and again. By this time, Kitty finally realized she had to change tactics.

_If I can pull this off, it should buy me enough time. _

It would be a very risky move, but the feline agent was willing to give it a shot. She then ran towards the super robot at full speed. The E-2000R quickly responded to this, as it continued to fire multiple lasers at her within seconds of each other. Kitty though was able to evade, moving from side to side. Once she was close enough, she slid back first towards it legs. Then, in one quick swoop, she swung her right leg at the back of the machine's ankle as hard as she could.

Kitty's tactics paid off, as she knocked the machine off balance, causing to hit the ground flat on its back. That move barely bought her enough time, as she quickly switched battery packs as fast, but as methodical as she could.

Not even one second after finishing her battery swap, the E-2000R quickly got back on its feet, now preparing to fire at her yet again, this time with a vengeance.

_Here we go again!_

Kitty was tempted to fire, but quickly remembered the machine would block any attack on her part without stunning it first.

Moments later, the E-2000R attacked her once more, firing laser shots as fast as it could. Kitty again took the evasive maneuver route, running around, doing several backflips, even jumping forward while somersaulting.

During this time, Kitty couldn't help but notice its accuracy was not as sharp as before. Its attacks were soon missing her by more than several feet. Its drop in accuracy at first puzzled the feline a bit, but she quickly figured it out.

_Of course! Its CPU must be short-circuiting._

Indeed she was right, as the E-2000R's red hue screen was shorting in and out once every five seconds. Deciding to take advantage of this, Kitty pulled out another magnetic bomb from her bag, preparing to heave it at its head again in an attempt to blast a larger hole in its metal structure in order to destroy it.

Seconds later, Kitty went on the offensive, as she continued to dodge the oncoming lasers, hoping to catch it off guard. The feline agent waited patiently until its drop in accuracy was glaringly obvious. Not even ten seconds into her strategy, Kitty saw it miss her big time. Instantly, she lunged towards the machine. Her plan was to toss the bomb and then somersault over its head.

But unfortunately for the feline agent, the E-2000R countered her strategy with ease, as it used its shield to slam her backwards onto the ground flat on her back. Her ribs again took the brunt of the attack. Thankfully though, the padding she had around her chest greatly cushioned the blow. Nonetheless, Kitty had the wind knocked out of her as a result of its clever counter attack.

Dazed and stunned, Kitty tried to get back on her feet and attack with her M249 SAW before it could strike again. But again, the feline agent was beaten to the punch. Within moments, the E-2000R grabbed her firmly by the neck in its right hand. To make matters worse for Kitty, its grip on her was even stronger than the previous machine.

Then, in one quick swoop, the E-2000R tossed Kitty high into the air. Once she was high enough for its tastes, it unleashed several laser blasts at her, knocking her backwards by over twenty feet near the mansions wall where Eggman's machine had put several large holes in it from before. On top of being knocked senseless again, Kitty received several serious burns, as the lasers hit her in the right shoulder and in her lower chest, where her ribs again were hit.

Thankfully for a second time, the padding again softened the blow to her chest, but it still caused her a lot of pain nonetheless.

Tails unfortunately had managed to see this, making him lose focus during his grappling duel with Eggman, as he shouted in despair, "Kitty!"

Eggman instantly took advantage of this, backhanding the two tailed fox aside as hard as he could with his right palm. Due to being taken by surprise, Tails was unable to stop his decent in time, as he landed abruptly onto the ground with his left leg taking the brunt of the fall.

Tails quickly grabbed his knee in agony after landing, as the fall had caused him significant pain.

Kitty meanwhile struggled to get back up, as her body was starting to feel the effects of being slammed by the E-2000R.

Eggman though took full advantage of this, as he ordered his E-2000R, "That's more like it! Finish her off!"

His machine immediately complied, as it fired laser after laser at her. Due to being weakened by its attacks earlier, Kitty's agility was far less now.

As the laser blasts came closer towards her, Kitty had no choice but to dive inside the house again, using one of the holes to escape. Again, she managed to evade without harm, as the attack came within a foot of hitting her. She even managed to miss getting cut by the glass shards inside, but just barely.

Eggman then ordered his machine, "Seal off the area! Don't let her out of the house!"

Again, his machine complied with his orders, guarding the area very closely.

Seconds later, Eggman declared to her with a bullhorn in hand, "Agent Katswell, this game of cat and mouse between us has gone on long enough! Surrender to me this instant, and I promise to go easy on you!"

Kitty though knew he was lying, as she didn't trust his words one iota.

Eggman then added, "But if you don't, I'll make this mansion your personal burial plot! You have five seconds to answer me!"

Deciding to take advantage of this, Kitty switched to the M32 and began to reload the spring back in into the loading area.

A second later, Eggman began counting. Kitty meanwhile started loading grenades into her MGL after reloading the spring device into place, hoping to finish the task in time before he finished counting. Unfortunately, she couldn't load it fast enough, as the mad scientist was done counting before she could install more than three in.

He then said to her, "Well, what's your answer, feline? Are you going to give it up, or what?"

Deciding to stall, Kitty asked, "And what would be my sentence exactly if I gave myself up?"

"Oh, nothing much really…" Eggman replied with a grin. "Just spending the rest of your life in my dungeon is all!"

As he began to cackle about this, Kitty continued to work at reloading her grenade launcher. Thankfully, she finally finished. After she snapped the weapon into place, he told her firmly, "No more stalling, furball! What is your final answer?"

Tails meanwhile looked on, deeply concerned, as he didn't know she was going to get out of this mess.

Kitty then answered back loudly, now carrying her M32 firmly in both hands. "I'll never surrender to you! I'd rather die than be your prisoner of war!"

"Very well then." Eggman replied. "You shall get your wish!"

Within moments, the mad doctor pulled out two C4 explosives from his Eggmobile, carrying one in each hand. Then, in quick toss he heaved them into the heavily damaged mansion, as they bounced onto the floor nearby Kitty. When she saw them, she instantly freaked out inside.

The female G.U.N agent then tried to back up and run for it, Eggman though cackled again to himself, as he pulled out a remote detonator, saying, "So long, Kitty!"

And with those words, Eggman pressed the detonator.

Kitty meanwhile ran as fast as she could away inside, hoping to get out of at least most of the explosives' blast range. Then, exactly one second later, the C4's detonated with fury, as a huge fireball enveloped part of the building, with metal, wood and glass flying everywhere. Within seconds, more than 30% of the mansion was blown to bits, including almost the entire living room and the room above it.

As the smoke began to billow out, Eggman laughed heartily, raising his hands in victory.

"YES! YES! YES! She's dead! I got her this time!"

Tails meanwhile looked on in deep despair. He quickly dropped to his knees in total shock, as his eyes began to fill with tears again. He couldn't help but think Eggman had finally killed her.

_No… Kitty… You can't be dead. You just can't be. Please… I don't want to live without you._

Eggman then ordered his super robot, "Go check inside and check for any signs of life. Make sure she's done for."

The E-2000R instantly responded, as it hovered close by, scanning the ruins with its sensors. Twenty five seconds later, it reported back in a monotone voice, "No signs of life or movement within the proximity."

Eggman quickly rubbed his together with glee. "Perfect. This worked out better than expected." He then ordered his machine, "Find the small rabbit, Cream, and bring her to me at once. She shall be my leverage against the rest of those despicable rodents."

Tails at this point lowered his head, burying his arms around it, as he started to weep inside.

_No. This can't be happening to me! Eggman wasn't supposed to win! Please, somebody tell me I'm dreaming!_

But it wasn't. Everything that had happened was very real. The E-2000R meanwhile began to search around the mansion, looking for Cream, but wasn't anywhere to be found.

"Well, where is she?" Eggman demanded, once it landed nearby his hovercraft.

"Subject target, Cream, is currently missing." The E-2000R replied. "No sign of her anywhere."

"No sign of her?" Eggman was angry, as well as perplexed. "How she could not be here? Why, she's only six years old!"

The mad doctor though waved his hand in dismissal ten seconds later, saying, "Never mind that. She can't be too far off. Let's go get her."

After hearing this, Tails finally composed himself. In spite of what he just witnessed and the pain in his sprained leg, he vowed to avenge Kitty and save Cream from being taken captive. With deep rage on his face, he then flew into the air and prepared to fight for them with all he had.

But as he flew closer to them to attack, Tails, along with Eggman and his machine got the surprise of their lives. Within seconds, a grenade came flying out of the wrecked mansion, blasting the E-2000R directly on its head, exploding violently on contact.

Eggman quickly turned around in deep horror, thinking, _No! It can't be!_

But it was. With a bit of smoke still billowing inside, a familiar figure soon came walking out of the heavily damaged mansion, covered in soot and ashes from head to toe, carrying a weapon Eggman unfortunately knew all too well.

Tails' facial expressions immediately changed from perplexed to overwhelming joy. _She's alive! I don't believe it!_

Kitty then quickly fired four more rounds into the E-2000R with total fury before it could regain its composure, blasting it in the head again, as well as the chest and legs. The grenades hit the machine within seconds of each other, violently exploding on contact, eventually sending it flying end over end.

She soon said to the mad doctor after his machine slammed against the ground nearby him, severely damaged, "Looks like you completely underestimated me again, doc."

Eggman at this point lost it emotionally, as he couldn't speak. Instead, he could only growl and stutter, completely dumbfounded.

He then finally demanded seconds later, "Impossible! How in the world did you survive that bomb blast? Its blast range was too large for anyone to escape from!"

"What can I say, Doctor?" Kitty retorted. "I die hard."

While Eggman was deeply incensed by her statement, Tails on the other hand was completely swoon inside, thinking with a deep sigh, _she's so wonderful. Only someone as cool as her could pull off something that amazing._

Kitty then pointed her M32 at Eggman, saying, "The game's over, you sick psychopath! Now I'm ordering you to surrender before I blast you to bits!"

Her words caused deep concern to the mad doctor, but nonetheless kept his composure, retorting, "Ha! You don't have it in it to kill me! You're just like the rest of your G.U.N slime… weak."

Kitty's next move completely horrified Eggman, as she quickly switched weapons and fired a few dozen rounds from her M249 SAW at his Eggmobile.

Eggman instantly veered out of the ammo's range, as Kitty told him with deep authority in her voice after she stopped shooting, "Don't you ever call me weak again, Eggman. While I maybe a G.U.N agent, there's one thing I will not hesitate to do that they might."

She then switched back to her M32, pointing it directly at his Eggmobile again while Eggman let out a small scream, "And that is, FINISH YOU OFF!"

Tails then let out a cheer, "Go get em, Kitty! Let him have it!"

Completely desperate inside, Eggman said to his heavily damaged machine, "C'mon, you useless hunk of junk! Get up and help me already!"

The E-2000R tried to get up, but was mightily struggling to do so, as the grenades Kitty had fired at it had finally taken its toll on its metal body. Seeing this frightened Eggman even more inside, as Kitty said to him with a smirk on her face, "Well, I guess you won't be hiding behind your so called super machine anymore. Too bad for you."

Kitty again pointed her weapon at him, saying firmly while Eggman looked at her now completely panicked inside, "You're terminated, Doctor."

In that moment, Eggman instantly tried to get his Eggmobile out of her weapon's range. Fortunately for him though, it wasn't even necessary. Within a few milliseconds of her firing the M32, Kitty felt a hand grab her right lower leg, knocking her off balance, as well disrupting her aim. Instead of blasting Eggman's hovercraft, the grenade was way off target, as it soared completely over the mad doctor's head.

Kitty then looked down and saw the culprit, none other than the E-2000R itself. Even in its heavily damaged state, it still had fight and life left in it.

Deeply annoyed, Kitty quickly went to grab another magnetic bomb and try to finish it off. But again, The E-2000R prevented her from doing so, as it now tripped her up with its right metal leg, knocking her to the ground on her rear.

"All right, that does it!" Kitty shouted at the E-2000R after switching to the M249 SAW again once back on her feet. "I'm going to pump you full of lasers!"

Kitty instantly pressed the trigger on her M249 SAW and unleashed dozens of rounds at her foe. But for a third time, she failed to take it out. Again, the E-2000R used its shield to block all the lasers that came towards it.

_I don't believe this! _Kitty thought as she continued to fire. _Even now, it's still able to hold its ground._

Seeing only one course of action, Kitty decided to use a M67 grenade to stun it and then finish off Eggman's machine. Quickly grabbing one from her bag, the feline agent ran towards it, trying to bait it to attack her again.

As expected, it did, as the E-2000R fired laser after laser at Kitty once she was close enough. Kitty though evaded the lasers, sidestepping around them, back flipping over several more, even sliding underneath its legs in an attempt to confuse it.

After this went on for Forty five seconds, Kitty went into Phase 2 of her plan. She then ran towards it again, preparing to pull off a very difficult maneuver.

Again, the E-2000R fired its lasers at her, trying to zap the feline agent into submission. But as before, Kitty was able to evade it with ease.

Finally, when she was close enough, she then lept high into the air and then somersaulted, as she was planning to toss the grenade right on top of its head.

Unfortunately for her though, Eggman anticipated her move with near perfect timing, steering his Eggmobile right into her path to slam her hard to the ground below.

"Kitty!" Tails shouted.

Eggman's countermove sent Kitty tumbling onto the grass for over ten feet, eventually coming to a rest on her back.

"Ha!" Eggman sneered. "I figured you might try something like that. Your attack patterns were way too predictable!"

Tails meanwhile looked on deeply concerned, as he knew Kitty was now in a bad predicament.

"Finish her off, now!" Eggman ordered his machine.

As before, it instantly responded, flying right towards Kitty in a hurry.

Kitty during this time tried to regain her senses and get her focus back. But before she could, she saw Eggman's machine coming at her very quickly. Forced to think fast, Kitty quickly reacted, back flipping high into the air before the E-2000R could attack her, as she sailed over it completely, landing on her feet several seconds later.

Eggman then went to put a stop to this, as he flew his hovercraft right behind her now in the air, saying, "You've got nowhere to run anymore, feline! Just give it up and surrender already!"

Before Kitty could respond to his threat, Tails now came flying in at top speed, shouting, "NO! I won't let you hurt her again!"

Tails again took Eggman by surprise, as he instantly got in his face and socked the mad scientist hard in the right cheek.

"Ow! Why you little…!"

Deeply angered by the two tailed fox's interventions a second time, Eggman went to finish him off for good this time, as he soon swung his fists at him again and again. Tails however evaded his punches with eases, flying out of its range each time the mad doctor tried to hit him.

Kitty unfortunately soon got distracted by their duel, as she couldn't help but start to wonder why he was fighting so hard for her now. Several seconds later unfortunately, the feline agent paid the price for her lack of focus, as the E-2000R instantly blindsided her, ramming her hard in the gut with its right metal elbow, where she was sent flying towards the ground again. This time, she felt it so much more than before, as she slammed onto the grass face first with a loud thud.

Kitty now groaned loudly in pain. The toll of this battle had begun to wear on her to the point of complete exhaustion. But that would soon be the least of her troubles. Within seconds, the E-2000R soon towered over her, ready to finish feline agent off.

Tails meanwhile happened to witnessed this in the corner of his eye, as he now turned his head towards Eggman's machine. Seeing Kitty in deep trouble alarmed the two tailed fox again, as he was preparing to fly towards it and help her out.

Eggman on the other hand saw his opportunity to deck Tails a second time. Tails though saw it coming and ducked a split second before he swung his right fist at him. Tails then used his right elbow hard as a counter measure, hitting the mad scientist directing in the nose with it.

Eggman quickly let out a small scream, as Tails attack had caused his nose to bleed profusely within seconds.

"You little wretch!" Eggman shouted, holding his nose with both hands while groaning in pain. "I'll get you for this!"

"Can it, you creep!" Tails retorted, flying away from him. "I've got more pressing issues at hand."

Indeed he did. Within moments, he flew towards the E-2000R, preparing to trip it up from behind in order to rescue Kitty.

Unfortunately for the two tailed fox though, the E-2000R would not be taken by surprise. As soon as Tails got within three feet of it, it instantly responded, as it fired a large laser shot directly at his chest, knocking him backgrounds to the ground on his face completely senseless. Its laser attack even left him with serious burns to his chest.

Kitty unfortunately wasn't able to respond to this, as she still was reeling from the previous blow.

Eggman meanwhile finally composed himself in spite of his broken nose, shouting to his E-2000R, "No more games! Kill that furball, now!"

Kitty during this time tried to get up and escape, but wasn't able to due to the speed and strength of the E-2000R. It quickly grabbed her by the throat again then prepared to blast her once she was tossed in the air.

But again, Eggman's plans of finishing her off would be halted. Out of nowhere, the E-2000R was hit hard by a spinning screw kick aimed directly at its right shoulder. The attack instantly severed its right metal arm off, even knocking it backwards to the ground several feet. Kitty thankfully wasn't hit by this attack, but was instead sent flying several feet away, with the arm still attached to her.

Eggman looked on in complete disbelief as to who had come to her rescue.

"Rouge?"

"Well, well, Doctor, we meet again." she replied firmly.

Kitty meanwhile was trying to get free of the metal hand still grasped around her, as she overheard the conversation nearby.

"What business do you have being here, batty?" Eggman demanded, pointing a finger at her. "I thought you hated agent Katswell."

"My dislike for this G.U.N agent played no factor in this decision of mine." Rouge retorted. "I'm just here to make sure your plans don't go as expected."

Eggman growled at her, shouting, "This is so like you, always wrecking my hard earned work when I least expect it! Well, I'll see to it your meddling ways end up costing you dearly!"

"Ha! That's a laugh." Rouge countered with a grin. "Now that I crippled your so called machine, what makes you think it has any chance of beating us?"

Kitty at this point finally freed herself of the severed metal arm and eventually came running towards Rouge, though a bit slowly due to her previous injuries. Eggman then shot back, "It doesn't matter! My E-2000R is still capable of annihilating the both of you!" The E-2000R during this time amazingly was still functioning in spite of losing a metal arm, though it was clearly obvious it was running on its last legs.

Kitty then inquired of Rouge dumbfounded, "You actually risked your neck to save me? Why?"

"What, you think I can't put my feelings aside for once and help out a fellow G.U.N agent?" Rouge replied.

"No, it's not that." Kitty said hesitantly, "But this is so unlike you."

"Let's just say I'm after the big picture here, honey." Rouge told her with a sly grin.

"Uh, and just what is that by the way?" Kitty inquired, feeling very suspicious inside.

But before Rouge could answer her, the E-2000R by this time was back on its feet and ready to attack again.

"No time to talk, Catwoman." Rouge said. "We gotta finish off this machine of Eggman's before it causes anymore havoc. Would you not agree?"

Kitty knew she was right about this, as she nodded her head in agreement. Rouge then added, "We'll have to work together in order to destroy it. Are you with me?"

Kitty quickly grabbed her M249 weapon from the ground nearby, replying with a look fierce determination, "Let's do it."

While this was going, Sonic finally came out of the mansion from upstairs near the back. He unfortunately had a miserable time getting out of there due to Amy trying to restrain him. Nonetheless, he finally managed to get free and see what the commotion was about.

"What in the world?" the blue hedgehog couldn't help but look dumbfounded. "It looks like a warzone out here!"

Indeed it was, as Rouge and Kitty were currently in a firefight at the moment.

Amy however finally caught up to him from behind seconds later, ordering him, "Sonikku, get back in your bed this instant!"

Sonic then glared at Amy, replying, "There's no time for that! Eggman's causing a serious ruckus here."

"Let Agent Katswell take care of it." Amy told him. "After all, she's perfectly capable of fighting off Eggman herself."

"How can you say that and claim you love me?" Sonic demanded. "That has to be one of the most selfish things you've ever said."

Amy instantly was incensed at first, but deep down, knew he was right. Nonetheless, she said to him softly, "You can't go out there and risk your life now. You could get yourself killed, and then I wouldn't be able to be with you anymore, not to mention your friends."

Sonic however wasn't able to give this much thought, as he then saw Tails lying on the grass to his right about a dozen feet away , moaning loudly.

Sonic quickly ran to him, saying, "Tails, are you ok?"

Tails fortunately still was conscious, but very weak after getting hit directly in the chest.

Amy soon ran over to him as well, rolling the two tailed fox on his back. She then gasped, "Sonic, look!"

Sonic now saw the deep burn too in his chest, making his furrow his eyebrow. "Looks like Eggman's contraption really singed him."

"So, what do we do with him then?" Amy inquired.

"What else? Let's get him away from the ongoing battle so he doesn't get injured any further." Sonic replied.

"So does that mean you're not going to fight then?" Amy asked.

"Of course I am." Sonic told her firmly. "But I'm going get my best bud outta harm's way first."

Hearing that made Amy angry inside, as well sigh heavily. _Even with all his current injuries, my Sonikku just doesn't know when to give it up._

Back on the battlefield, the E-2000R was surprisingly still able to hold its ground in spite of the fact it lost its arm cannon and was seriously sparking. Kitty and Rouge however kept the heat up on it, trying to wear it down and finally finish it off.

Rouge then attempted a screw kick, aimed directly at its shield in order to break it to pieces. Kitty looked on during this time with deep anticipation, as she was going to waste it with the laser from her machine gun once it lost its only line of defense.

But to Kitty's surprise, Rouge missed, as the E-2000R easily evaded it, moving backwards several feet. As what had happened on Angel Island, Rouge instead put a big hole in the ground. Within seconds, the seductive bat quick flew out of it and tried to attack Eggman's machine with a flying roundhouse kick. But again, her attack was completely negated, as the E-2000R blocked it with ease with its shield. It then used its shield to try and knock Rouge back a couple of feet, forcing her to make adjustments in midair in order to land safely on the ground.

After she did, Kitty said to her, "You missed."

"No duh." Rouge replied with a frown. "Don't worry, I'll get it eventually. You just be ready to shoot when I do."

Kitty quickly nodded her head, as she got her weapon ready to go. However, the feline agent's efforts would again be unnecessary, as Rouge attempted another screw kick, but her attack again ended up with the same results.

Once Rouge flew out of the hole a second time, Kitty commented, now feeling a bit frustrated inside, "You missed again."

"Look, I'm not perfect, ok?" Rouge retorted. "So stop criticizing me already."

"Well, if you can't finish it off, then allow someone who can." Kitty shot back.

"Ha! That's rich." Rouge retorted again. "You were getting your butt kicked by this thing not even five minutes ago."

Rouge's statement instantly puzzled Kitty, as she couldn't figure out what she was trying to imply.

Seconds later, Rouge attempted a third screw kick at the E-2000R. But once again, she missed. By this point, Kitty was starting to feel really suspicious inside.

_How in the world has she not put this thing away by now? She could have easily hit this metal monstrosity's shield the first time. _

_And, how did she know I was getting pounded by Eggman's machine anyway?_

A scary thought then came over Kitty. _Is she…? _

Kitty however quickly brushed it off, thinking, _No, no, no. There's no way she's in cahoots with Eggman. That would be a new low, even for her._

But as the battle went on, Kitty couldn't admit something was off. She just couldn't put her finger on it though.

Meanwhile, about one hundred feet away, Cream had returned with the gray robot in tow.

"Wow, you sure are quite the obedient machine. Everything I asked of you, you did. You even made the park experience more fun for me."

As it turned out, one of the things Cream had done with the robot while at the park was have it push her on the swing, build sculptures in the sand, even helping her swing on the monkey bars. This unfortunately delayed her from coming back sooner. Nonetheless, Cream soon saw the battle going in the front yard, making her look on in horror.

"Oh, no. That evil Eggman is again attacking my friends." She commented deeply concerned with a gasp. The young rabbit then turned to the gray robot and said, "I'll need you to help defeat Eggman again. Can you do that for me?"

As before, the machine obeyed her, as its eyes lit up and blasted off towards the front yard.

While this had been going on, Rouge and the E-2000R continued to duel. But like before unfortunately, Rouge was making no progress with it. Instead, all her attacks were either evaded or negated.

"All right, no more playing around." Rouge muttered. "Time to get physical!"

Rouge then ran towards the E-2000 attacked it a series of roundhouse kicks, trying to get it off balance. However, her efforts were again in vain, as the E-2000R easily blocked it with its shield.

Kitty by now finally lost her cool, saying, "C'mon, knock it to the ground already, Rouge, so I can waste it with my M249 SAW!"

"I'm trying, Catwoman!" Rouge replied annoyed while kicking at it again. "It's not easy as it looks, ok?"

Kitty though was beginning to wonder if Rouge was really trying hard or just stalling.

That suspicion though would soon become moot. Within seconds, Cream's gray robot came flying in, even bowling Rouge over where she landed on the ground face first knocked senseless.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Rouge demanded, shaking her head in an attempt to clear her head.

Kitty quickly gasped, thinking, _it's that gray robot again!_

The gray robot meanwhile had come in so hot; it even slammed to the E-2000R to the ground, where it hit the ground flat on its back several feet away.

Eggman soon saw it too, saying, "What? That gray robot is back again?" He then growled at his machine and ordered, "Get back on your feet and destroy it already!"

The E-2000R however was slow to get up, as it was still heavily sparking even now. Nonetheless, it got a small break, as the gray robot didn't try to attack it again for the time being. Instead, it began to scan Rouge and copy her abilities to its memory banks.

Moments later, Sonic finally came out of the mansion, with Amy quickly tagging along from behind. The blue hedgehog then said with determination in his eyes, "All right, no more fooling around! I've got a mad man to put away."

Amy grabbed right his arm in response before he could take off, telling him firmly, "You're not going after Eggman in your condition without my help."

Sonic at first thought of resisting, but finally replied with a sigh, "All right, fine."

While the pink hedgehog smiled at him with delight, Sonic added, "Just make sure you don't get in the way."

"Don't worry, Sonikku, I'll be sure to…"

Amy instantly gasped before she could finish her sentence, as she said pointing, "Sonic, look."

Sonic quickly glanced to his left, and there he saw the gray robot looking at the both of them.

"What on earth is that thing?" he inquired. "Is that another of Eggman's robots?" Sonic unfortunately didn't get a chance to be informed about the machine by Tails due to being seriously injured from before.

"Why's it looking at us that way?" Amy pondered.

"Get ready." Sonic told her. "That thing may attack us any second."

Sonic's concerns though would quickly be put to rest, as the gray robot turned away and went to attack the E-2000R. By this time, it had gotten back on its feet and ready to fight.

Within seconds, the gray robot and the E-2000R began to duel. Now having the copied abilities of Sonic, Amy and Rouge in its databank, it soon began to use their signature moves against Eggman's machine.

Sonic was now dumbfounded, as he said, "Is that thing… fighting Eggman's super robot?"

"Why, I believe it is." Amy answered, now perplexed as well. "How is that possible?"

Sonic though blew it off, saying, "Never mind that, I'm going to give it a hand."

Amy again however restrained him, telling the blue hedgehog while grabbing his right arm a second time, "There's no need for you to fight now. With that thing on our side, along with Kitty and Rouge, they should be able to handle it no problem."

"But… but… but…"

"Save your strength for the big battle at Eggman's base." Amy reiterated. "That's when you'll really need it."

Sonic pondered the idea of resisting her again, but thought better of it, replying, "All right fine, but if that thing gets in trouble, I'm taking Eggman's robot head on, injuries or no injuries."

Thankfully for the time being, the gray robot was able to hold its ground with ease, as it now tried to attack the E-2000R with Sonic's spin dash.

Unfortunately though, its attack was completely negated upon impact. The gray robot then tried to use some of Kitty's martial arts moves to wear it down, but again failed due to E-2000R's super shield.

Finally, as a last resort, it attempted to destroy the E-2000R with Rouge's screw kick. But like Rouge before her, it completely missed its target, as Eggman's machine evaded it once again with ease.

This pattern of failed attempts to destroy the E-2000R soon went on for several minutes. Kitty by this time thought to herself, _this machine isn't accomplishing anything. It's becoming nothing but a stalemate over and over._

Even Sonic commented on this, saying to Amy, "I can't believe that gray machine hasn't done anything yet. I thought it was supposed to be stronger than this."

"Maybe both machines are equally matched." Amy replied.

Eggman soon cackled at the gray robot's lack of efficiency, saying, "Is that the best it's got? What a joke! You should have known my latest machine was a lot stronger than the previous model."

Kitty unfortunately hated to admit, but knew he was right in this case.

The mad scientist then added seconds later, "The only way that thing's beating my machine now is if it gets powered up, but I don't see that ever happening."

That comment quickly got Sonic thinking, as he thought to himself with a hand under his chin, _so, that thing needs some juice, eh?_

Amy then turned to look at Sonic and asked, "What's on your mind?"

Sonic didn't answer her at first, as he ran back inside, eventually saying, "Hang on, I'll be right back."

While he was away, Cream finally came running up near Kitty to see the progress of her gray robot. To her deep surprise, it wasn't as she had hoped.

Cream now pleaded with the gray robot after it came to a standstill after another failed attack, "Please, you've got to fight harder. You're our best chance to destroy this machine of Eggman's."

Her machine again took her words to heart, as it resumed the fight, fighting even more valiantly than before.

Kitty during this time overheard Cream's remark, surprising her a bit. She then said to her while the gray robot and E-2000R fought, "What are you doing here? This area is too dangerous for someone like you to be out here."

"I just wanted to see how my robot was doing." Cream replied softly.

Kitty at that moment was ready to pick her up and carry her inside to safety, that is until Sonic came out of the wrecked mansion again, saying, "I got it!"

Kitty quickly took a look at it, revealing to be none other than the Chaos Emerald he and Tails had found in the Mystic Ruins.

_So… that's what one of them looks like. _Kitty thought. _It looks like a miniature Master Emerald. _

Sonic then tossed it to Kitty, taking her by surprise while telling her, "Quick, give that robot the emerald so it can use its power to destroy Eggman's bucket of bolts."

"Will do." Kitty replied.

Kitty quickly ran towards the gray robot after it bounced off another deflected attack and tossed it the Emerald.

Eggman at this point said with deep fright once it was in its possession, "Oh no! Don't tell me you're actually going to use the emerald you recently found to attack my machine! That will destroy it off for sure!"

Those words however came out almost icily, even a bit sarcastic, making Kitty wonder inside.

Meanwhile, the gray robot quickly powered up with Emerald, as its eyes soon glowed red instead of purple. This change in color alarmed even Kitty.

Within moments, the gray robot went to attack Eggman's machine again, now shattering its shield with one quick jab due to the gray robot's metal fist.

With nothing left to shield it, Cream's gray robot now completely annihilated the E-2000R, as it hit it with every move it learned. From Kitty's martial arts, Sonic's spin dash, even Rouge's screw kick. All were performed in less than ten seconds with complete precision and overwhelming power.

With the Emerald increasing its power levels fifty fold, it easily finished off Eggman's machine. As a finishing move, the gray robot grabbed the E-2000R by the throat and rammed as hard it could into one of the mansion's walls.

Kitty at this point looked on in deep shock, as even the wall it crashed through was smashed to pieces.

Seconds later, the E-2000R finally bit the dust, as it sparked out of control and exploded violently, spreading metal debris everywhere.

Once the smoke and fire from its remains soon began to die out, Kitty then thought in completely amazement, _Unbelievable. No wonder Eggman wants those Emeralds so bad. They're actually a force to be reckoned with._

With Eggman's machine now out of the picture, Sonic's confidence level rose dramatically, saying, "All right, now that's what I'm talking about!"

Cream meanwhile hugged the gray robot once it came back, saying as well, "Good job, Mr. Robot. You did a wonderful job."

To Kitty's surprise, Eggman just looked on without much reaction to what just took place, again deeply puzzling her.

Sonic then said to Eggman pointing at him, "The gig's up, Eggbelly. Your super machine is toast. If you know what's good for you, you'll give yourself right this second and surrender."

"And why should I do that when the puzzle pieces of my plan are coming together quite nicely?" he retorted.

This statement confused not only Sonic, but even Kitty too. _Puzzle pieces? His machine just lost. What's he talking about?_

Sonic though just fired back, "Enough of your riddles, Robotnik! Either you give up or we're siking Cream's robot after you too!"

Eggman completely dumbfounded everyone, as he retorted again, "Is that a fact? Are you sure it will do that to me?"

_Ok, something is definitely not right here. _Kitty thought to herself. _He's acting way too confident for what should have been a humbling defeat._

Rouge then spoke up, telling Eggman, "Unless you want to be killed, I suggest you do as Sonic says."

Eggman again defied them, as he replied, now laughing heartily; "Oh, that's rich! You actually think I'm going to be killed by that junk bot?"

"You will if you want to stay in one piece." Rouge shot back.

"Go on then. Send him after me." Eggman challenged. "I dare you to."

Eggman's arrogance finally set Sonic off, as Cream said angrily to him, "All right then, you evil scientist. You asked for it."

Cream then ordered the gray robot to attack Eggman.

Again, it obeyed her, as it flew towards the mad doctor in a hurry. But then, out of nowhere, it stopped in midair in front of him. This move puzzled everyone watching.

"What are you waiting for?" Sonic demanded. "Finish him already!"

"Why aren't you doing what I asked you to?" Cream inquired softly. "Eggman must be punished, Mr. Robot."

Kitty during this time meanwhile took a quick glance at Eggman's hovercraft, as she saw some puzzling movement from his right arm, making the feline agent furrow her eyebrows.

Moments later, the gray robot turned and now faced Sonic and the others, confusing them all. Then, out of nowhere, it flew towards Cream at high speed, abruptly grabbing her with its right metal arm.

"Cream!" Kitty shouted. In that moment, everyone on the ground was dumbfounded and horrified by the gray robot's abrupt act of betrayal..

Cream on the hand screamed in terror, as the gray robot delivered the young rabbit into his hovercraft.

Eggman looked with deep delight, saying, "Excellent work, Emerl. You were most helpful indeed."

"I should have known it was a double agent!" Sonic shouted angrily. "C'mon, guys, let's toast that thing!"

Eggman though ordered Emerl to take them out, as he turned his Eggmobile around and began to leave.

Kitty and the others meanwhile attempted to go after Eggman, but were instantly halted in their tracks by Emerl. Due to being powered up by the Chaos Emerald, they were all no match for it. Emerl then used its new abilities it learned against them, using Kitty's martial arts moves to knock them all to the ground.

One by one, most of them were smacked to the ground hard with fury, as it hit them with karate chops, punches, even kicks in rapid succession.

Within seconds, only Rouge was left standing, as she had managed to evade it for the time being. Unfortunately for her though, she soon fell down by the wayside, abruptly getting blindsided from behind by Emerl while using Sonic's spin dash.

After she hit the ground seriously stunned, Eggman cackled heartily at them all, saying, "Fools. Did you actually think you'd get the best of me this time? You should have known better than to trust a machine that I secretly planted at the mansion. I guess you're not as smart as I originally thought."

Cream then screamed in terror while inside his Eggmobile as Eggman added while holding the young rabbit up by her ears, "However, I'll play nice and give you a chance to rescue your little friend here, that is if you're brave enough to attack me at my base."

Eggman again laughed heartily, as he flew away saying, "So long, rodents! Until next time!"

Cream again screamed with fear while he left the scene. Once they were gone, Kitty and the others meanwhile struggled to get up, as Emerl's attack had walloped every single one of them very hard.

Kitty personally had been taken down by a very strong roundhouse kick to the head. Thankfully though, the attack didn't leave her with any significant injures, but just very dazed with a splitting headache instead.

Sonic then eventually stood up too, as he had the wind knocked out of him by Emerl with a karate punch to the gut. He soon said angrily a few seconds later, "That dirty Eggman! I can't believe he fooled us all!"

"I know." Kitty replied with a frown. "I should have seen that coming."

"So what do we do now?" Amy inquired concerned.

"What else?" Rouge answered her, now speaking up. "We go after him."

"I don't think that's the best course of action right now." Kitty told her. "We're going to need reinforcements to pull this off successfully."

"Speak for yourself, Catwoman." Rouge shot back. "That dirty Eggman made a fool outta me and I'm going to see to it he pays for it personally!"

Rouge then went to spread her wings, as Kitty said to the female bat while extending her right hand towards her, "Rouge, wait."

"Save it." Rouge retorted. "I'm not listening to anyone of your advice, so don't even bother trying."

And with that, the manipulating bat took off into the air and flew after Eggman.

"Hold on a sec, Rouge!" Kitty said. "I need to ask you something before you go!"

Not surprisingly, she got no answer in return.


	13. Preparing for Battle

Kitty then let out a groan with disgust, saying, "I cannot believe her! She is such a wild horse!"

"Never mind that." Sonic replied. "I think Rouge has a point. We need to go after Eggman, pronto."

"No, Sonic." Kitty told him firmly. "We can't."

"Why not?" Sonic demanded. "We can't just let him get away with this!"

"I don't intend to." Kitty answered. "But we can't go in there, guns ablazing. We need a plan."

"Plans are for slowmos!" Sonic retorted. "I don't need em. They just hinder me."

"Sonic, would you please just listen to me for a second?" Kitty told him, starting to lose patience.

The blue hedgehog at first resisted, but finally, said, "All right, what is it?"

"For us to pull this off successfully, we're going to need a lot of help."

"Why do we need help, Kitty?" Sonic demanded. "The three of us should be able to take him down no sweat."

Kitty at this point groaned in disgust again, as she thought, _Man, does he ever just settle down and listen to reason?_

Kitty then explained, "Eggman will more than likely have his base heavily guarded. There is no way the three of us in our current state will stand a chance at getting by his security."

"Who cares about that?" Sonic countered. "I can outrun any of Eggbelly's so called security."

"What about the rest of us though?" Kitty asked. "We would get slaughtered there on foot."

Sonic deep down knew she was right about that.

Kitty then continued, "We're going to need more comrades, weapons and even air support for us to be to beat Eggman."

"Why do we need all of that?" Sonic inquired with a frown.

"Think for a second." Kitty replied. "He just took us all by surprise by cleverly having one of his robots pretend it was on our side. Now imagine once we get close enough to his HQ. Do you honestly think he won't be ready for us when we finally show up?"

Sonic soon began to think this over, as Kitty added, "Not to mention you, and the rest of us suffered some injuries a while ago. We're in no condition to fight him now."

Sonic now let out a sigh, saying, "Man, I hate to admit it, but do have a point."

"Trust me." Kitty told him. "Once we have everything in place, we can easily crush that mad man into oblivion."

"I guess so…" Sonic muttered.

Seconds later, Kitty asked out of the blue, "By the way, where is Tails? I haven't seen him for a while."

"Tails is on my bed, recovering." Sonic explained. "He took quite a shot to the chest by Eggman's robot."

Kitty gasped at this, asking further, "Is he all right?"

"Yea, Tails should be fine." Sonic replied. "He suffered some serious chest burns during the battle, but he should hopefully get his strength back eventually with some rest."

"I hope so." Kitty said, sighing with relief. "We're going to need him to carry out the attack against Eggman."

Amy now spoke up and asked, "So, what's the plan then?"

"First thing we need to do is head to Angel Island," Kitty replied.

"Why there?" Sonic inquired with arched eyebrows.

"Because… I need to talk to Knuckles." Kitty answered softly.

"What about?" Sonic asked curiously.

"His super strength is a valuable asset to our cause, so I want to try and ask him to help us against Eggman."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Sonic told her.

"Why not?"

"Because, Kitty." Sonic explained. "He's not exactly what I would call a team player. In fact, he spends most of his day just guarding that large gem."

Kitty realized this was true, as she had seen firsthand how valiant Knuckles had fought to keep the Master Emerald safe.

Nonetheless, she said, "We still have to try and persuade him."

"It's pointless." Sonic argued. "He'll turn us down in a sonic second. I know he will."

"Sonic, please…" Kitty said firmly. "We must at least give it one shot. Who knows? He might actually listen to us."

By this point, Sonic rolled his eyes, saying with a deep groan, "Oh, all right. We'll go see him."

"Thank you." Kitty told him with a slight smile.

"But what about Tails though?" Sonic asked. "We can't just leave him here alone."

"True…" Kitty then turned to Amy and asked her, "You mind watching him while we head to head to Angel Island?"

"What's with this we talk?" Amy demanded.

"Sonic and I are going to Angel Island." Kitty explained.

"Why does he have to go with you?"

"Because, Amy." Kitty replied. "I'll need someone who knows how to get there. I've only visited the place once."

"How do I know that's not the only thing you'll be doing while you're away?" Amy interrogated with a frown.

Kitty again groaned with disgust, thinking while rolling her eyes, _won't this girl ever get the hint? _

Sonic then spoke up, saying firmly, "Amy, I thought you said you were going to trust me."

"I do, Sonikku." Amy replied sheepishly. "But, it's just that…"

"What?" Sonic demanded.

"Well… you and Kitty… you two seem to spend a lot of time together." Amy explained, looking away awkwardly. "I can't but wonder at times if maybe you'll see her differently than just as a comrade."

Sonic sighed heavily, telling her, "Amy, if you and I are ever going to be closer, you're going to have to learn to trust me and stop thinking the worst."

Amy knew he was right, but answered hesitantly, "I know. I just don't want anyone else to ever catch your eye. I hope you understand."

Kitty then spoke up, saying, "Amy, I can assure you, Sonic and I have no interest in each other romantically whatsoever."

"You're absolutely sure about that?" Amy asked a bit suspiciously.

"Yes, 100% sure." Kitty reiterated.

Amy now looked at the floor, saying softly, "Well, ok then. I'll trust you on that, Sonic."

"Thank you." Sonic replied, sighing deeply relived.

"C'mon, we better be going." Kitty said. "We'll need to hurry and get there as soon as possible."

"Right."

The two of them then walked off with Amy looking on, thinking to herself; _please_ _don't break my heart, Sonikku. I couldn't stand the thought of another woman being your true love._

"So, how are we getting there anyway?" Sonic inquired while they walked.

"Simple." Kitty answered. She then stopped in her track, and turned to the right, looking at the X-Tornado. "We'll use that."

"That?" Sonic looked at Kitty puzzled and asked, "You want to use Tails' aircraft?"

"Why not?" Kitty asked.

Sonic looked at her a bit hesitant and asked, "Well, its just… are you sure you can even fly that thing?"

"I guess there's only way to find out then, huh?" Kitty replied firmly.

_Oh, lucky me._ Sonic thought with a groan.

Sonic's concern unfortunately didn't go without some merit. Not surprisingly, Kitty found the X-Tornado harder to fly than anything she ever flew at T.U.F.F.

Eventually though, Kitty did get the hang on flying this super jet of Tails', but not before giving the blue hedgehog quite a scare. The feline agent almost hit a tree on takeoff, even zigzagging around erratically a bit when changing direction.

"Are you sure you can fly this thing?" Sonic asked Kitty, ducking lower into his seat

"Would you relax?" Kitty told him. "I've had plenty of experience flying aircrafts in my time."

"Yes, I can clearly see that." Sonic commented sarcastically.

Kitty rolled her eyes a second time, saying, "Hey, this jet isn't that easy to fly. Cut me some slack, will ya?"

Sonic though just sighed heavily, saying nothing. Kitty then asked him, "Just curious, why aren't you flying on top like before?"

"Uh, well…"

Usually, Sonic would stand on top of the jet, but this time he didn't, as he was very worried Kitty would cause him to fall off during the flight there. Instead, he sat in the backseat this time.

Kitty unfortunately got the gist of what he was saying, making her frown inside, but didn't push it further.

Fifteen minutes later, they finally arrived at Angel Island. Again, Kitty had a hard time landing the plane on the Island, but managed to do so without any major problems, although she came close to hitting a few of the trees nearby in the process. And also, her lack of experience put the blue hedgehog on edge for the time being.

Kitty then told him after the X-Tornado came to a stop, "You can relax now. We're here."

Sonic looked around, and saw the jet was still in once piece, now sighing a deep sigh of relief.

Moments later, Kitty opened the hatch, and the two of got out and began walking on foot towards the Master Emerald.

As they walked, Sonic said, "I really hope you know what you're doing here. Knuckles isn't exactly the easiest guy to talk to, you know?"

"Chill, Sonic." Kitty replied with a sigh. "I've dealt with him before. I know what to do."

Hearing that answer made the blue hedgehog do a double take, asking, "You… talked to Knuckles on Angel Island..?"

"Yea, why?"

"Well, why were you even here in the first place?" Sonic inquired.

Kitty though didn't tell him, answering instead, "I'll explain it to you later. It's not a memory I like to think about for the most part."

"Ohhhkkk…"

As before, Kitty made it to the pedestal without any hindrance. However, as soon as she and Sonic got near the steps, Knuckles finally showed up, jumping down in front of them, shouting sharply, "Halt! Who goes there?"

However, once he saw who it was, he let his guard down, saying, "Kitty…?"

"Hey there, Knuckles." Kitty greeted with a smile.

The red echidna soon saw Sonic standing next to her, demanding, "And what's he doing here?"

"Official business." Sonic replied.

"Really?" Knuckles glared at Sonic, inquiring further, "That's a likely story from a showoff like yourself."

"Cool your jets." Sonic told him with a frown. "It's the truth."

"With your happy go lucky attitude… I doubt it." Knuckles shot back, crossing his arms together.

Sonic by this point began to lose his cool, demanding, "Why do you always have to be such a pain, Knucklehead? Is it possible for you to just lighten up for a change?"

"Oh, yea, I'm sure you'd love it if I was more like you, wouldn't you?" Knuckles countered.

Kitty could sense things were getting out of hand, so she said to both of them a bit annoyed, "All right, enough of this arguing already."

Once the two of them settled down for her sake, Kitty told Knuckles, "This was my idea. Not Sonic's."

"Oh… I see." Knuckles by now let his guard down again, as he asked softly, "So what is this official business you're on anyway?"

Sonic spoke up before Kitty could, saying, "We're here to ask you to see if you'll help us out."

"Help you out with what?" Knuckles inquired.

"With the upcoming G.U.N raid against Eggman, what else?" Sonic replied with a frown. "What, you didn't know about that, Knuckster?"

"Hey, I don't get news as easily as you do, hedgehog." The red echidna reiterated.

"Well, maybe if you actually quit sitting around and actually did something besides guard this big gem… maybe you would actually get more done." Sonic retorted.

That statement infuriated Knuckles, as he pointed his right fist at Sonic, shouting, "How dare you talk to me that way! For someone who's as big of a goof off as you, you're in no position to tell me how to spend my time!"

"You can't just handle it because it's the truth." Sonic fired back.

Knuckles again growled at the blue hedgehog, saying sharply, "I've told you again and again. I am the guardian of the Master Emerald. It is my job to guard it with my life, and the fact you can't get that fact through your thick skull shows incompetent of a hero you really are."

Kitty by this time was losing her patience, as this fight was really starting to get to her.

Sonic again fired back, shouting, "At least I get more things done, unlike you!"

"Stop it!" Kitty shouted out of the blue.

Both of them looked at her perplexed, as Kitty said with her hands at her waists, "This is ridiculous! You both are very talented individuals, but because of your pride, you instead fight like spoiled children? Shame on you!"

Strangely, her words were taken to heart, as both of them were now silent inside.

Kitty then told Sonic, "Just ask him and this time do it nicely."

Sonic sighed heavily; rolling his eyes, but reluctantly went along with it. He then said to Knuckles softly, "Anyway, we'd like you to join us to help get rid of Eggman. Can we count on you?"

Knuckles was soon in deep thought, as he replied, "Well, I would like to see Eggman gone. He has become quite a thorn in our side as of late."

"Then you're in?"

Knuckles quickly sighed heavily, replying again, "As much as I want to, Sonic, I cannot."

Sonic now looked at him dumbfounded, demanding, "What do you mean you can't?"

"Sonic, I can't just leave the Master Emerald unguarded." Knuckles explained. "Somebody has to guard it. Otherwise thieves like Eggman and Rouge could take it with ease."

"We're going to be attacking his base." Sonic told him sharply. "I doubt he'll have time to steal with it with us trying to take him out."

"Ok, but what about Rouge?" Knuckles inquired. "You can't tell me she wouldn't take advantage of a situation like this."

"Rouge will be with the G.U.N forces." Kitty replied. "You won't have to worry about her either."

This again put Knuckles in deep thought, eventually saying, "I don't' know… I just… don't think I can take that chance and not worry about something happening. This is my main job after all. I'm sorry."

Sonic by this point was deeply disgusted inside, commenting, "I should have figured you'd care more about that gem than the well-being of your friends and restoring peace to the world."

"Don't antagonize me further!" Knuckles said to him loudly. "I told you, I can't help you, so just stop with the insults already!"

Sonic though gave one last jab, saying, "You're just selfish, Knucklehead. The fact you can't see what's more important really shows how shallow of an individual you really are."

Knuckles again growled, as he was ready to punch his lights out. Kitty again intervened, grabbing his right arm when he was trying to swing, demanding with a frown, "Did you two listen to anything I said to you earlier?"

She then added, scolding Knuckles, "How can you even think of hitting Sonic when Eggman's the one you should be venting your frustration against?"

Sonic though retorted after she let go of his arm, "Forget it, Kitty. I knew from the get go he wouldn't listen to us. He's too stubborn to care about what's really important in life."

"Don't you dare talk to me about importance!" Knuckles lashed out. "Have you forgotten already it was you who got us sent to this world in the first place due to your carelessness?"

"Hey, I did what I had to do!" Sonic shot back. "Cream was in trouble, so I went to the base to rescue her. Maybe if you actually lent me a hand back then, we wouldn't be here now."

Kitty finally lost her cool, as she yelled loudly after growling inside, "Would you two… just… SHUT UP ALREADY!"

Both of them were now deeply horrified inside by her loud outburst, as Kitty reiterated sharply, "I mean it! Both of you, shut up and be quiet, now!" She then threatened, "The next one to attack the other with another verbal jab will answer to me personally!" Kitty had displayed her claws during that statement, showing she was dead serious about her threat.

"I've had it up to here with your childish fight!" she added, now completely out of patience. "You two haven't hardly said one word to each other without hitting the below the belt. What is wrong with you guys? You're supposed to be comrades, not acting like you hate each other."

Again, both of them were deeply silent, even a bit ashamed inside, as they knew deep down Kitty was right.

Kitty then said to Sonic, "Since you can't deal with him diplomatically, then please keep quiet and let me handle this instead."

Sonic replied to her in a huff, adding afterwards, "Fine, he's all yours."

Kitty quickly walked towards Knuckles, saying while putting a hand softly on his right shoulder, "Knuckles, please help us out. We really need you."

The red echidna was a bit startled by her touching him, but didn't try to wrench away.

"I know you and Sonic don't get along, but for the sake of peace and ridding the world of that mad man Eggman, I am pleading with you from the bottom of my heart. Please, give us a hand and help our cause. Please…"

Knuckles again was in deep thought, as Kitty added, "You were blessed with a good head on your shoulders, even super strength. Why not use those gifts for something as important as this?"

Knuckles sighed heavily inside, as he couldn't help but soften up at her words. Finally, he said with another sigh, "Well… if it means that much to you… I'll give this matter a lot of thought then."

"But Knuckles…" 

"Kitty, please…" Knuckles said interrupting, putting a hand up. "That's the best I can do. As much as I respect you for who you are, I can't just ignore my duties here so easily. I was born to be a guardian and protect that large gem. That's who I am. It's important to me that you try and understand this."

Deep down, Kitty did somewhat, but still didn't like the fact he wasn't on board yet. She then answered him softly, "Well, ok then. I guess we'll leave you alone to think it over."

"Thank you." Knuckles replied softly.

"C'mon, Sonic, let's go." Kitty told him.

Sonic did as he was told, though he glared at the red echidna with a big frown one last time before turning away.

Kitty on the other hand looked back at him one last time after Sonic left, saying with a disappointed look on her face, "So long, Knuckles. I'll trust you to do the right thing about this."

Kitty then turned and walked away. Knuckles meanwhile sighed heavily a third time, feeling guilty inside while thinking, _Man, she really got to me. _

Knuckles soon thought a few seconds later, _I usually don't pay attention much to a female's words, especially since those like Rouge are always bantering or insulting me. But her… There's something different about her. She seems…well, more mature and strong. _

Deep down, Knuckles didn't know what to think about Kitty. While he did indeed respect her a great deal, he wasn't sure on how he truly felt about her as a friend.

_Is it possible there's something about her that I find attractive?_

Knuckles though blew off this notion immediately, saying while shaking his head, "No, no, I don't have time for relationships involving romance. Guarding the Master Emerald is my lifetime work. How could I even think of anything getting in the way of that?"

But deep down though, Knuckles wondered if it was possible to have both.

Meanwhile, Kitty and Sonic continued their walk back to the X-Tornado.

Sonic soon spoke up while Kitty looked on sad, saying with frown, "I told you it was a waste of time. He's just too stubborn and thickheaded to get the point."

"Sonic, please, stop with the name calling already." Kitty told him softly. "It's not accomplishing anything."

The blue hedgehog rolled his eyes, replying, "All right, fine. But I have to tell you, I don't see him coming to our aid anytime soon."

"We don't know that for sure." Kitty reiterated. "There's a chance he could change his mind."

"I doubt it." Sonic muttered while crossing his arms.

"Anyway, let's get back to the mansion." Kitty said. "We need to see how Tails is doing anyhow."

"All right then, let's go." Sonic replied firmly.

After the canopy was opened, Kitty asked, "You want to ride on top this time?"

"No thanks." Sonic answered. "While I trust your flying a lot more, I still prefer to play it safe for the time being."

"Never thought I'd hear someone like you say that." Kitty said with a smirk on her face.

"Hardy har har." Sonic muttered, rolling his eyes once more.

Meanwhile, at G.U.N HQ, an officer approached Commander Towers in his office.

The Commander soon looked up while doing his work at his desk, demanding, "What are you doing here?"

"Sir, I have a report." The solider replied while saluting.

"Go on."

"After taking inventory on our weapons count, it was discovered that one of the devices is missing."

"Missing?" The Commander looked at him intently, inquiring further, "What do you mean missing?"

"An override modulator from our supplies has disappeared, sir." The solider told him.

"What?" The Commander now stood up, demanding angrily, "How could it just go missing? Why, our weapons supply room is heavily guarded."

"I understand that, sir." The solider reiterated. "But nonetheless, it was taken without any notice at all from the guards stationed outside."

Commander Towers then banged his desk with a loud thud, saying, "Impossible! How in the world could anyone sneak past our security? Not even a fly could get in there unnoticed!"

"I'm at a loss about this as you are, sir."

Seconds later, the Commander put a hand under his chin to think. _Could it be Agent Katswell took it in order to help Sonic and his friends? _

He soon added, _but that doesn't make any sense. An override modulator wouldn't help them out at all._

"Sir?"

The Commander soon cleared his thoughts, as he asked, "Do we have any surveillance footage of who the thief is?"

"Unfortunately, sir, no." the solider answered hesitantly. "It appears the wires to the camera were cut before it could catch anyone."

This report instantly infuriated the Commander. He again slammed his desk, shouting, "You can't be serious! Are you telling me an expert thief came here and outwitted our top security?"

"Well, to put it lightly, sir… yes." The solider replied, now feeling nervous inside.

"I don't believe this." Commander Towers muttered. "Does this mean we might have a leak Eggman might have planted here?"

"I wouldn't know, sir." The solider answered. "I'm just telling what I saw."

At this moment, the Commander again was in deep thought. He then told the solider in the room after another pause, "Leave me now. I have a lot of thinking to do."

"Uh, as you wish, Commander."

And with that, the solider quickly left the room. Once he was gone, the Commander thought to himself, _it appears I have a spy from within. I'll have to do a thorough inspection tomorrow and find out who it is. And when I do, they'll never know what hit them._

Strangely, the Commander still had his suspicions of Kitty Katswell as a possible candidate.

_She does seem very genuine and is a hard worker… But, is that just a ruse on her part?_

Another thought then came to his mind. _This doesn't seem like her kind of work. Plus, the more I think about it, it looks like this was the work of…_

But the Commander soon brushed that thought off, saying, "No, no, Rouge wouldn't betray us. After all we've done for her; she wouldn't take advantage of this job we gave her."

Deep down though, he wasn't 100% sure of that.

Back at the Thorndyke mansion, Kitty and Sonic soon arrived back home after flying out to Angel Island. Since Kitty was able to fly Tails' jet more smoothly on the way back, they arrived back at the mansion earlier than before. Kitty even came close to performing a 3 point landing when landing the X-Tornado back in the garage.

"Wow, you really are getting the hang of flying this plane." Sonic commented after they exited the jet. "I'm impressed."

"Eh, what can I say?" Kitty replied, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm a fast learner."

"I see…"

A couple of minutes later, the two of them entered the room where Sonic had put Tails to recover. From the moment they entered, they saw Amy watching over the two tailed fox closely while reclining in a wooden chair.

Amy quickly spotted them coming in, standing up, saying, "Oh, you're back. How did it go?"

Sonic shook his head softly with disgust, replying, "Not good. I couldn't get him to budge."

"What?" Amy looked on deeply perplexed. "You mean Knuckles won't help us out?"

"It looks that way unfortunately." Sonic answered with a heavy sigh.

At first, the pink hedgehog was dumbfounded by this, but soon spoke up with a frown on her face, "I cannot believe how selfish he is. Does he care at all what happened to us?"

Kitty then spoke up, saying, "Please don't be too hard on him. It's a very complicated matter."

"There's nothing complicated about it at all!" Amy shot back. "What reason could he possibly have for not wanting to help out?"

Kitty now sighed, replying while looking out the window at the dusk sky, "His guardianship."

"That's still no excuse to just ignore the matter at hand." Amy retorted. "He could find someone else to guard that stupid gem of his for a day if he really wanted to!"

Kitty knew she was right to a certain extent, but didn't press the matter, as she said instead, "The thing is, Knuckles didn't say no. He said he would think about it. That should give us some hope, right?"

Sonic quickly let out an angry huff, muttering, "Don't bet on it."

At this point, Kitty decided to drop the matter completely. With Sonic and Amy getting angrier by the second thinking about it, talking about it any further was a waste of time.

So, she asked instead, "Anyway, how's Tails doing?"

"Well, he's been sleeping mostly while you were gone." Amy answered softly. "That laser attack he got hit by apparently really must have taken a lot out of him."

"I can see that." Kitty commented, looking at him with sympathy in her eyes.

She then asked Sonic, "You mind if I wake him up?"

"What for?" he inquired puzzled. "Don't you think he needs his rest?"

"Yes, but I need to speak with him for a minute." Kitty replied. "It's really important."

"What could be so important that it couldn't wait until tomorrow?" Amy pondered.

"Trust me on this." Kitty reiterated. "You'll understand later."

With deep reluctance, Sonic sighed again, saying, "Very well then. Go ahead."

Kitty then nudged the two tailed fox gently on his right shoulder with her right hand, as he soon stirred about and opened his eyes, saying with a moan, "Sonic, is that you?"

When he saw Kitty looking at him, Tails quickly sat up, saying deeply startled, "Kitty! What are you doing here?"

"I just came by to check on you." She told him. "It looks like you took quite a shot to the chest."

"Yea, I know." He replied softly. "It really hurts now." Even at that moment, the effects of the burns were still very strong, making it hard for him to move without feeling pain.

"You think you'll be up for flying the X-Tornado soon?" Kitty inquired.

Amy now frowned deeply, demanding, "How could you even ask such a thing from him after all what he went through? He has at least second degree burns on his chest and a sprained left knee. Have you no sympathy?"

Kitty quickly shot her a glare, replying, "Amy, please stay out of it. This is between me and Tails. If it's an inappropriate question, then let him tell me, ok?"

Amy though just turned her nose with a huff, as Kitty soon said to Tails while in deep thought, "I don't mean to sound inconsiderate, but I do need to know since you're a vital part of this mission. So, are you able to?"

Tails though didn't take any offense at her question. Instead, he was honored that Kitty wanted his help, even now. So, he replied to her softly, "Well, I don't know. I mean… I might be able to, but I'm not 100% sure."

"I guess that's understandable." Kitty said with a sigh.

Tails then said her out of the blue a few seconds later, "There's something I need to know before I give this more thought."

"Of course, what do you want to know?" Kitty inquired.

Tails at first didn't speak, as he didn't know how to ask this, but eventually said, "How did you survive?"

"Survive what?"

"The… bomb blast." Tails replied awkwardly. "I mean, I could swear, that blast radius was too big for even you to evade."

Kitty unfortunately wasn't expecting this question so soon, but replied anyway, "Well, the truth of the matter is, I was lucky."

"How so?"

Kitty then sat on his bed and explained while looking at him intentionally, "You see, I just happened to pick the right spot when running away. I actually had considered running towards the kitchen since I thought the blast could be more vertical than horizontal. As it turned out, it was the opposite."

As Tails looked on mystified, Kitty added, "That's not to say I didn't feel the heat of the blast. I did, but I was far enough away it didn't leave me with any serious burns or get hit with sharp shrapnel."

"But… you were covered with soot and ashes." Tails reiterated.

"Well, that was due to part of the mansion ceiling falling down on top of me." Kitty explained. "Not to mention the explosion left a lot of smoke and ash from the aftermath. And also, I had to hide inside of some debris when that debris scanned the area inside."

At this point, Tails was completely impressed. He now smiled deeply at her, telling the feline agent, "You really are amazing, Kitty."

Kitty blushed a bit at his kind words, replying with hesitance, "Oh, stop. I was just lucky is all."

"I don't think so." Tails said firmly. "I mean, yea, there was a little luck involved, but the fact you knew what to do in such a pressure cooker situation is nothing short of way past cool."

Kitty again blushed with embarrassment by his praise, as Tails added, "In fact, you maybe even cooler than Sonic."

"Hey now, I resent that comment." Sonic said with a frown. "Nobody's cooler than me, lil bro"

"Well, maybe not in the exact same way." Tails replied softly with hesitance, "But you have to admit, that was quite a feat on her part."

"Yea, you do have a point there I guess." Sonic said, agreeing reluctantly

Kitty then spoke up, saying to the two tailed fox while placing a hand on his right shoulder, "Anyway, thank you for your kind words, I do appreciate them."

"Anytime." Tails told her with a smile.

Moments later, Kitty stood up and walked over to the bookshelf. This move of hers perplexed everyone, as she soon picked up Tails' X-Tornado instruction manual on it.

Before any of them could say anything, she said to Tails, "So, I take it this is your book on how to properly maintain your jet, huh?"

"Yea…" Tails answered hesitantly. "Uh, mind if I ask what your interest in it is?"

"Oh, nothing really." Kitty replied with a straight face. "I was just curious if this book had any guide on how to fly the X-Tornado."

"Well, sort of…" Tails said awkwardly. "It's actually more for on how to work on and make modifications to it."

"Oh, I see." Kitty's face lightened up when she heard this. She then asked him, "You mind if I take a quick glance at it?"

"Well… I guess not." He answered softly.

"Thanks." She said with a smile. "I'll be right back in a sec."

And with those words, she walked out of the room with the book in hand, again confusing everyone.

"What's with her?" Amy inquired. "Is she into high tech gadgets or something?"

"You got me." Sonic replied, shrugging her shoulders.

Tails on the other hand couldn't help but wonder if this had something to do with what she had told him earlier.

Several minutes later, Kitty returned, now carrying the book under her arms. She then said to Tails, "I gotta say, this is a very detailed book. I'm very impressed."

"Oh, uh, thanks." Tails replied, blushing a bit inside.

"Did you write it yourself?" Kitty inquired.

"Well, I had some help." Tails told her, now looking at the ground. "Sadly, they are no longer around."

Kitty then noticed some tears forming in his eyes, as it instantly hit her why he was starting to cry a bit.

The feline agent quickly walked towards the right side his bed, saying with sympathy, "Oh, Tails… Did Chris help you write this book?"

"No." Tails replied with a sniffle. "It was his grandfather."

"I see…" At this point, Kitty was at a loss for words, since she didn't know what to say to comfort him.

Tails though filled the void, saying with a tear dripping down his cheek, "I sure do miss them a lot now."

Kitty again put her hand on his right shoulder, telling him, "I know…" She then added softly, "The important thing to remember though is, don't ever lose heart. It is a vital part of your life."

Tails didn't say anything this time, but instead nodded his head in agreement.

"You're stronger than you even realize, Tails." Kitty told him.

"You really think so?" he asked her after a brief pause, looking at the feline agent in the eye now.

Kitty nodded her head, reiterating, "I do indeed. Even now, after everything you've experienced, I still can sense your strong will inside of you. And as long as you have that strong will, you can do anything you set your mind to."

At this point, Tails was deeply encouraged, as he smiled at Kitty, saying, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." She replied, giving him a faint smile back.

Kitty then walked back to the bookshelf and put the book back where she found it. After that, she said to him, "Anyway, if you're not able to fly your jet tomorrow, I'll understand. I do realize you're pretty banged up at the moment."

Tails though replied to her, "Well, I don't know for sure if I can, but I'm willing to try when the time comes."

"That's fine." She told him, now walking towards the two tailed fox. "But I hope you'll read your book again before you go to sleep tonight."

"Why?" Tails inquired confused. "I mostly know it by heart now."

"Let's just say, there's something in there worth reading." Kitty reiterated subtly.

"Huh?" Tails by now was deeply perplexed, as he didn't know what she was driving.

Then, out of the blue, she winked at him again. Immediately, Tails figured out what she was trying to tell him. _Oh, I see. Is this another piece of the puzzle?._

"Anyway, I better be going." Kitty said to everyone. "I have a big day tomorrow."

"You have to go already?" Tails asked with disappointment. "But it's not even 5pm."

"I know, but I do have obligations with G.U.N." Kitty replied softly. "You understand, right?"

"Yea, I guess so…" Tails said, sighing with sadness.

Sonic though spoke up quickly, saying, "Hey, wait a sec. You never informed us about your plan to rescue Cream."

Kitty unfortunately had let that thought slip her mind, but was able to remember in time, replying, "Oh, yea… sorry about that."

Amy then asked, "We are going to rescue her, tonight, aren't we?"

"Well..." Kitty was now hesitant inside, as she didn't know to tell them. Eventually, she replied, "I wasn't planning on going doing a rescue tonight to be perfectly honest."

"What?" Everyone else in the room said this unison.

"What do you mean you weren't planning to rescue Cream tonight?" Amy demanded. "Don't you care about her wellbeing at all?"

"Of course I do." Kitty replied, a bit insulted by that accusation. "But it's just that…"

"Well, what?" Sonic interrogated. "Spit it out."

Kitty again hesitated to speak, but said a few seconds later, "I really believe we should wait until tomorrow morning before trying to rescue her."

"And risk Eggman doing something horrible to her?" Sonic retorted with outrage. "No way!"

"Sonic, I don't believe she'll be in any danger tonight." Kitty explained.

"You don't know that for sure." Amy countered with a frown.

"Ok, I'll admit I'm not 100% sure on that…" Kitty told her with hesitance. "But I really do believe he has other ideas in mind."

"Like what?" Sonic demanded.

Kitty then looked at the clock and realized she couldn't stay much longer, so she replied, "I'm afraid I can't tell you that now. You'll just have to trust on me this."

"Say what?"

"I'm sorry, Sonic." Kitty said to him with a bit of sadness in her voice. "But I really do have to go now."

And with that, she left the room.

Amy soon asked puzzled a few seconds later, "I cannot believe how heartless that feline is acting! She actually wants us to wait until tomorrow? What is her problem?"

"I don't know, but I think I'm going to find out." Sonic replied with frown.

Sonic then blasted out of the room, where he soon caught up to Kitty before she could exit the heavily damaged mansion.

Sonic's actions were so abrupt, it even startled Kitty, as she was very surprised to see him coming out of nowhere so quickly, now standing in front of her with his arms crossed.

"Sonic, what are you doing outside?" Kitty demanded.

"We need to talk." Sonic told her very firmly.

"Why?" Kitty inquired puzzled. "I already told you. I have obligations."

Sonic though called her bluff, saying, "I don't buy that one bit."

At that moment, Kitty could sense Sonic knew what she was up to. He then said to her, "You've been acting way too mysterious since we returned home, Kitty, and I'd like to know why."

"Sonic, it's complicated." She explained. "It's not something I can just say in the open so easily."

"Try me." The blue hedgehog reiterated.

Deep down, Kitty didn't want to tell him, but decided to bite the bullet and do so anyway. She then sighed and told him, "Ok, the truth is, the Commander is very suspicious of me spending time with you all. He thinks I'm trying to give you insider information of the upcoming G.U.N raid."

"So? What's wrong with that?" Sonic inquired.

"He doesn't want me to." Kitty explained. "In fact, he made it very clear to me that he wants you and your friends to stay out of this. Don't you remember that?"

Sonic unfortunately had let this piece of information slip his mind.

"You see, I could lose my job at G.U.N if I'm not careful." Kitty told him. "And… I've sacrificed too much to just let this opportunity slip through my fingers. I hope you understand."

At this point, Sonic let his guard down a bit, as he did understand it somewhat. He then said to her, "I guess I can a little. Still, that doesn't explain why you want us to wait until tomorrow to rescue Cream."

Kitty let another sigh, "replying, "Let's just say, the odds of rescuing her tomorrow will better than tonight."

"And you know this how?" Sonic inquired.

"I can't tell you that now." Kitty answered. "I wish I could, but I just can't."

"Why not?"

"I already explained it to you, Sonic." Kitty reiterated. "I could get in big trouble with the Commander if I tell you anything he said to us in private. He's already very suspicious of me when I wanted to protect your home."

At this point, Sonic understood her actions a lot more, commenting, "Man, I guess you really are in a pickle then."

Kitty again sighed heavily, replying, "Yea, you could say that. I really do want to succeed with G.U.N. But at the same time, I want to get to know you all better too. And the irony is, you're both at odds with each other as now." Kitty sighed again, adding now crossing her arms together, "I just don't know what to do."

Sonic was now silent inside, as he realized this was indeed a very touchy situation. Nonetheless, he spoke up a few seconds later and said, "Well, I wouldn't dare tell you what to do since this is your life. But I think sooner or later, you may have to choose between the two of us. And when that time comes, which could very well be coming very shortly, I hope you'll make the right choice if that does happen."

"Yea, I know." Kitty replied, sighing for a fourth time, now looking at the grass. "I really hope I don't have to choose. You guys and G.U.N have really been a big boost to my life as of late."

A long silence soon filled the air after she had said this, as neither knew what to say next. Kitty though finally filled the void, saying, "Sonic, can I ask you something weird?"

"Sure, shoot."

"Well… I noticed during the battle against Eggman's E-2000R, Tails was really fighting hard for me." Kitty commented.

"So? I would have too if I was there." Sonic replied. "That's what friends do for each other."

"I know, but what I'm trying to say is… Tails seemed like he was fighting for me more than just as a comrade."

"Really?"

"Yea, In fact, I could almost swear, he was fighting for me like I was much more to him than that." Kitty said awkwardly.

"I see…"

Kitty then looked at Sonic and asked, "Does that sound at all strange to you?"

"Actually, no." He replied. "Tails really has taken a liking to you as of late."

"But… it's was more than that to me. It was like…"

Kitty couldn't finish the sentence, as the whole idea sounded really bizarre and completely awkward to her. She then asked Sonic out of the blue, "Does Tails really like me a lot?"

"I already told he's taking a liking to you." Sonic replied.

"No, what I mean is, does he REALLY like me?" Kitty reiterated firmly.

At this point, Sonic finally sighed heavily inside. Due to wanting to respect Tails' privacy, he said nothing.

"He does, doesn't he?" Kitty inquired, pressing the matter.

"Well, I don't think it's my place to say, since it's not really none of my business." Sonic replied.

"I see…"

Kitty was now in deep thought, as she didn't know what to think of this at all.

"I think the best thing to do is talk with him about it personally." Sonic told her. "At least get it out in the open so you know where each of you stands."

"I guess so." Kitty said with a heavy sigh.

Deep down though, the feline agent now felt a little creeped out inside by the fact an eight year old might have a crush on her.

Sensing what she could be thinking, Sonic said to her, "I hope this doesn't make you like Tails any less because you know this now."

"Well, I guess not…" Kitty replied hesitantly, looking away with awkwardness. "It's just… I didn't think something like this would happen. You know what I mean?"

"Yea, I know."

Kitty again was silent, trying to think of what to do about this situation. Sonic then spoke up, telling her, "Don't worry about Tails. He's just dealing with emotions he's never had before. Give him time. I'm sure he'll get it all straightened out eventually."

"I hope you're right about that…"

Before she could give this matter anymore thought, she glanced to her left and saw the sun was beginning to set. She then said to Sonic, "Anyway, I should be going. I really do need to head back before the Commander gets any more suspicious of me being here."

"I understand."

The feline agent soon began to walk away, waving goodbye the blue hedgehog. But before she left, Kitty told Sonic while looking back at him, "We'll rescue Cream soon enough. I promise you that."

"I hope so." Sonic replied firmly. "I really hate this whole idea of leaving her in the hands of that mad man for now."

"I know." Kitty said softly. "I have a strong feeling though he will be saving her for bait to use against us when we invade his base."

"You may be right about that." Sonic commented, sighing heavily.

"Anyway, take care of yourselves." Kitty said to him. "Hope to see you all again real soon."

"Yea, same here."

Kitty then walked away and headed back to G.U.N. Once she was out of sight, a thought then came to Sonic's mind. _Hope to see you all real soon? What does that even mean anyway?_

Deep down, her subtle words puzzled him, but he decided to let it go for now since it wasn't the pressing issue at hand.

Seconds later, Sonic turned around and headed back to the mansion. But before he could take ten steps, he now looked at sky, thinking, _Hang in there, Cream. We'll be coming for you very shortly._

A couple of minutes later, Sonic returned to the mansion, where he saw Tails and Amy waiting for him.

"So, what did you find out?" Amy inquired.

Sonic shrugged his shoulders, replying, "It's very personal unfortunately."

"Does it have something to do with G.U.N?" Tails asked.

"You might say that, lil bro." Sonic answered with a sigh. "She's in a tough spot as of now."

Tails was now in deep thought, trying to think of what Sonic meant by that.

He then looked up, saying to Sonic, "Can you get me my X-Tornado book?"

"Why?" Sonic inquired confused. "You're in no position to work on your aircraft now."

"I know, but I'd like to look at it anyway." Tails replied. "Please…?"

Sonic sighed heavily, but humored him anyway, as he walked over and handed Tails the book.

Once it was in his hands, Tails said to Sonic, "Thanks."

"Sure thing, T2." Sonic replied.

Tails then skimmed through the book, with Amy asking Sonic after walking over to her, "What's he doing anyway? Is he really thinking of working on the X-Tornado in his condition?"

"I don't know, you got me." Sonic answered, crossing his arms together.

Moments later, after Tails turned another page, something fell out, surprising him a bit inside. Even Sonic and Amy noticed this, with the blue hedgehog asking, "What was that?"

"I don't know." Tails replied. He then picked it up, looking at it closely. As it turned it out, it was a flash drive, deeply puzzling the two tailed fox.

"What you go there, bro?" Sonic asked him, walking over to him.

"It looks like a computer storage device." Tails said. 

"Now why would you put one of those in your books?" Amy inquired suspicious. "That's no place for it."

"I didn't put it in there." Tails told her firmly. "I'm just surprised it to see this as you are."

Then it hit him, _Wait a minute. Kitty was looking at this book a while ago. Could it be…?_

Tails immediately looked at Sonic and said, "Quick, get me to my computer!"

"Why?" Sonic asked. "What's so important that it can't wait until later?"

"There's no time for that!" Tails told him sharply. "I need to see what's on this flash drive right now."

So, Sonic humored him again, as he and Amy helped escort Tails to his computer in Chris' room. Once he was seated in the chair, Tails fired up his computer, putting the flash drive in the USB port once it was loaded up.

_Ok, let's see what you have for me. _Tails thought firmly after moving the mouse to open the drive.

Within seconds, the two tailed fox saw several files. As it turned out, they were large PDF files.

Tails then opened up the files, and there he saw what Kitty was trying to show him, making him gasp in disbelief.

"Sonic, Amy, come quick!"

Both of them immediately ran to his side, with Amy on the left and Sonic on the right.

"What's going on, bro?" Sonic inquired.

"Take a look at this." Tails told him.

Immediately, both of them glanced at what Tails was looking on screen, making them too gasp in disbelief. There, they too saw all of G.U.N's plans from Kitty, including the formation details of where all their personnel would be stationed.

"It looks like G.U.N is planning their surprise raid of Eggman's base tomorrow at dawn." Amy commented, still perplexed. "This is big."

"No kidding." Sonic added. "So that's why she was being so secretive a while ago."

"And that would explain why Kitty was pushing for me if I could still fly the X-Tornado." Tails said softly. "She was trying to see if I would be ready to go by then."

"Well, what we do about all of this?" Amy inquired. "Will we even be ready to go that soon?"

"I don't know for sure…" Tails replied firmly. "But I'm going to give it my best shot."

Tails then tried to get off the chair, but soon realized he would need help again, so he asked, "Sonic, can you carry me to the X-Tornado?"

"What for?" Sonic asked with puzzlement.

"I need to get to work on it right now."

"What?" Both Sonic and Amy had said this simultaneously.

"Are you crazy?" Amy told him. "You're in no condition to do anything that strenuous."

"I don't care about that now." Tails replied boldly. "Time us of the essence, and I'm going to need every second I can get to help me carry out this task."

"Are you sure you're up to it?" Sonic asked him with concern.

"Probably not, but I have to do it. I owe that much to Kitty." He then added, "And Cream too."

Hearing him mention Cream made them both realize he had a point. They too wanted to rescue her and bring back the young rabbit safely.

"Ok then, let's do it." Sonic said. "For Cream."

Amy quickly nodded her head in agreement, as she and Sonic helped Tails downstairs and towards the garage in the backyard. Once they arrived inside, Sonic carefully placed Tails on his rolling board back first.

After he was settled in, Tails said to Sonic, "I might need some help getting my tools. Can you do that for me?"

"No prob, T2." Sonic replied.

While Sonic went to do that, Amy left them both to their work. Seeing Tails' courage despite his injuries deeply inspired her.

_Tails is right. I must work hard too, in spite of all what's happened. How else can I look Cream in the eye and let her know I'm her close friend after she's rescued?_

And so, Amy immediately went to work, as she began to train, doing laps around the Thorndyke to build her stamina, even working on her hammer swings, using a tree for target practice Like Tails, she too was determined to be ready to go come tomorrow morning.

While this was going on, Tails soon got busy. With Sonic fetching him tools, the two tailed soon began to make a lot of progress with his aircraft. Two of the things he decided to try and do before morning was increase the X-Tornado's engine power and outfit it with more weapons as counter measures against Eggman.

In spite of the fact it was now a race against the clock and he was working through serious burns, the two tailed fox persevered. He was determined to finish the job in time.

_I must press on. _Tails thought firmly as he worked. _I cannot let Kitty and my friends down._

Even Sonic soon took notice of his vigor, making him look on deeply impressed.

"You sure you can don't need any help with the jet?" Sonic inquired.

"Nope. Tails replied while working on the electrical components. "All I need is the tools and I'm good to go."

Sonic then commented ten seconds later, "I gotta say, you're pretty tough to want to do all of this after everything that's happened today."

"Sonic, there's no time to rest." Tails reiterated sharply. "We've got until dawn tomorrow to be ready to go."

"You're not actually thinking of staying up all night are you?" Sonic asked with concern.

"Probably not, but if it comes to that, then I will." Tails replied.

By this point, even Sonic now was inspired by his lil bro's toughness. "Well, if you need anything, just let me know." The blue hedgehog told him. "I'll do all I can to help you out."

"Thanks."

From that moment on, neither of them spoke much to each other, as time was not on their side.

With every passing minute, Tails continued to make progress with his jet, slowly, but surely increasing its power output. Even though there was a risk of putting too much stress on it, it was a risk the two tailed fox was willing to make. He knew speed would be key when battling Eggman.

Three hours later, Tails finally finished his work on the engine. Thanks to his ingenuity and intelligence, he was able to increase it by a good 50-100 MPH.

"Whew!" he said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Glad that part's done."

"Well done, Tails." Sonic commented a few seconds later. "You finished even faster than I thought you would."

Tails took a few sips of water from a pitcher Sonic had brought earlier, replying after he finished emptying his cup, "It's amazing how much you can get done when you really set your mind to accomplish a task."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Sonic said, giving a thumbs up.

"Ok, now to get started on the wings." Tails reiterated. "I'll need your help to move around since it's a bit higher off the ground."

"No prob, bro." Sonic answered with a grin. "Let's get to it."

And with those words, the two of them got to work again.

Since the wings were indeed higher off the ground, Sonic had to use a table for Tails to lay on in order to modify the wings correctly. In spite of the fact it took a bit longer to work this way, this obstacle did not deter the two of them in the least bit.

However, unknown to either of them, someone was spying on them from one of the high trees above. None other than Eggman's mysterious ally herself.

_So, they actually know about G.U.N's raid tomorrow, eh? I better get word to that big buffoon in order to counter this problem, or my plan could be in trouble._

The mysterious spy then flew off, heading for Eggman's base.

Meanwhile, at Eggman's base, the mad doctor was in the final stages of completing his top secret robot.

"Just a few more modifications, and this new machine should more than easily take care of those meddlesome rodents." Eggman commented with a grin on his face.

Finally, ten minutes later, he finished.

"There, done." Eggman said, taking a deep breath.

With his work now complete, Eggman decided to pay his hostage a little visit.

He soon entered the room where he keeping Cream, saying to her with a greeting, "Well, hello there, my little lab rat." Cream was behind a large vertical plexiglass tube, where she looked on deeply frightened.

"Why did you bring me here?" she asked him with fear in her voice. "I'm no threat to you."

"Ah, but your friends are", Eggman told her with glee. "And that is precisely why you are here as of this moment."

Cream continued to look on trembling, as the mad doctor told her, "You see, you're going to be my bait in order to lure Sonic and his merry band of troublemakers into a well-conceived trap."

Cream didn't like the sound of that at all. She then tried to speak with courage, saying, "Even if you do trap them, you still have to deal with Miss Kitty and her G.U.N comrades."

Eggman though just laughed heartily at her, retorting, "Please… you honestly think they're going to be able to do anything to me? They're just a big bag of wind as far as I'm concerned. They can talk to the talk, but they don't back it up."

Eggman then leaned towards the glass where Cream was, making her move back with fright, as he said, "Even if that feline menace, Kitty Katswell does somehow manage to get past my defenses, she'll still have to deal with my top secret weapon. And this weapon will be far more difficult than the test E-2000's I sent out to weaken her and the others. No, this weapon will… DESTROY HER, once and for all."

Instantly Eggman again laughed heartily, as the idea made his heart merry indeed.

Cream again tried to act brave, as she retorted, "Your plans have never worked out before, so what makes you think it will this time?"

Eggman then looked her in the eye and replied, "Because this robot is not just any robot I have built before. Far from it as a matter of fact. This robot will finally be my counter punch to take out Sonic and agent Katswell."

To show the young rabbit he meant business, he soon added, "Let me to show you what I've been working on, my dear."

Eggman instantly pulled out a remote and pressed the button on top. Within seconds, the lights went out in the room, as he did this to enhance the fear factor in Cream. Then, the door opened, and Eggman's blue metal robot slowly came into the room, with its glowing red eyes now lit up.

Cream at this point was completely terrified inside, as the robot came right towards the glass she was in, looking at her intently. What scared her even more was the fact who the robot closely resembled.

Eggman then said with glee, "Allow me to introduce to you, your friend's soon to be worst nightmare."

Savoring the moment, the mad doctor added five seconds later, "I call him, Metal Sonic."

By now, Cream lost all courage whatsoever. Instead, all she could say with a whimper, "You're crazy, Eggman."

Eggman though just retorted to her firmly, "We shall see who's crazy soon enough, my dear, when your friends are crushed beneath its metal feet."

Seconds later, Eggman walked away and prepared to leave the room. Since he had his fun traumatizing her, he decided there was no point in continuing it. So, he instead said to her on his way out, "Sleep well, furball. It's going to be a very long day for you tomorrow."

Once he was gone, Cream slumped onto her knees in despair, as she was on verge of tears now.

_That evil Eggman can't win. He just can't. But… it looks he will if things go according to plan. _

She then looked out the window at the night sky in the room where she was in, saying to herself, "There has to be something I can do to help. But… what?"

As she pondered this over, unknown to her, someone was nearby.

About 10 miles away, a familiar robot was trudging through the same forest it had been from before. For the last couple of days, it was still trying to make up its mind about what to do and who to follow.

That's right, it was none other than the E-102 Gamma itself.

Due to being a machine and having a huge conflict of interest within it, it still could not decide. However, it was closer now to a decision than ever before.

It then said to itself, "Turning against Eggman and following my own desire is much harder than it looks. I cannot just ignore what I originally designed to do."

However, Amy's words during his raid at the Thorndyke's mansion also stuck with Gamma like glue, as he could not shake her stirring words.

"You can choose to ignore Eggman's orders and follow your own will if you want to."

Gamma knew he had to decide, and now. The point of delaying this decision on his part any longer made no more sense. So, he finally decided to bite the bullet.

The images of Amy and Eggman then spun through his head, attempting to pick which words to follow.

Finally, several minutes later, Gamma made up his mind, saying, "I know now what I must do."

With his mind now made up, the E-102 began to head towards Eggman's base, determined to carry out his new mission.

Back at G.U.N HQ, Kitty finally returned to the base. Since she knew it was going to be a long day tomorrow, the feline agent decided to good night's rest.

However, before she could hit the sack, Topaz caught up to her, saying, "There you are. I've been looking for you."

Kitty was surprised by this statement, asking, "What's up?"

"We've got a problem unfortunately." Topaz during this time still showed signs of someone who was heavily grieving, but was starting to come around emotionally again as well.

"What kind of problem?" Kitty inquired.

"I just heard from the Commander there's going to be a surprise inspection tomorrow."

"Why?" Kitty asked puzzled.

"According to what I've heard, somebody stole an important electronic part from the G.U.N weapons storage room." Topaz explained.

"Why would one part cause such a stir?" Kitty pondered. "Is it really that important?"

"Indeed it is." Topaz replied. "It was an override modulator."

"Override modulator?"

"Yes." Topaz explained. "From what I could find out about it, that modulator could override any of our military vehicles, thus taking control of them at any time."

Kitty then put a hand under her chin, wondering what to think about this. "Do they have any clues as to who took it?" the feline agent inquired ten seconds later.

"No, that's the strangest thing. There were no clues whatsoever." Topaz explained. "Whoever did this, must've had a lot of training in stealing things."

When Kitty heard that, she could only think of only one culprit. Rouge.

_I'm willing to bet almost anything that sadistic bat had something to do with this._

"You seem to be in deep thought." Topaz commented. "You have any ideas who could have done this?"

Kitty was tempted to tell Topaz her thoughts, but since she and Rouge were good friends, and she didn't want to accuse Rouge without more proof, Kitty replied instead, "I'm trying to rack my brain as to who would do such a thing, but I can't put my finger on it."

"I see…"

Trying to be subtle, Kitty asked Topaz, "So, where is Rouge by the way? I haven't seen her since she was at the Thorndyke mansion six hours ago."

"Rouge was at the mansion?"

"Yes, she was, Topaz."

"But what would she be doing there?" Topaz inquired. "Was she trying to protect Sonic and his friends like you were?"

"I seriously doubt that." Kitty replied with a frown. She then asked, "Has she even showed up back at base since then?"

"No, she hasn't." Topaz answered softly.

Hearing this further deepened Kitty's suspicions of Rouge. Topaz then asked her, "You don't seriously think she's involved with this theft, do you?"

"I'm not sure to be honest." Kitty replied. "But I wouldn't put it past her. She is a bounty hunter after all."

"It just doesn't make any sense though." Topaz said softly. "I know Rouge. She just wouldn't do something this devious."

Topaz however at this point wasn't sure of anything anymore, as she added with concern on her face, "Would she?"

Trying to be diplomatic and calm her fears, Kitty told her, "There's a good chance I may be mistaken about this. I mean, it's not easy for me to think of the best of that bat since our fight."

"Yea, that is true." Topaz commented.

"Let's not dwell on it any longer." Kitty suggested. "Rouge will probably clear this up for us by dawn."

"I hope you're right about that." Topaz replied softly.

And with that, the two agents went to their beds and began to get some sleep. Due to being exhausted, Topaz soon fell asleep within minutes.

Kitty however did not at first, as she could not help but ponder what Topaz had told her earlier.

_I don't see how this could anyone's work other than that despicable bat herself. Not even Eggman is capable of cleaning up his tracks that well._

What made this even harder for Kitty to handle was the fact she didn't want to break Topaz's already fragile emotional state. To have her find out Rouge might be betraying G.U.N would more than like push her over the edge.

_I so hope I'm mistaken about Rouge. This is going to kill Topaz inside if its true. I just know it._

Unfortunately for the feline agent, she would not be mistaken in the least.

Ten minutes later at Eggman's base again, the mad doctor was addressing his two assistants.

"You'll be pleased to know I do have a job for you after all."

"Really?" Decoe looked on with enthusiasm, asking, "What is it?

"Should Sonic and the others get through my defenses, I have a robot ready to deal with them as soon as they reach halfway."

Becoe now spoke up, inquiring, "Uh, I thought Metal Sonic was going to be your main robot against them."

"It is." Eggman reiterated. "But, since I don't want them going in there too fresh, I want you two to at least rough them up a bit if possible before arriving. Can you do that?"

Decoe quite saluted his boss, replying, "No problem, Dr. Eggman. It'll be a cinch."

Becoe then asked after a brief pause, "So, uh, just wondering. Since you said you have a robot to deal with them, what's our part in it?"

"Simple." Eggman answered firmly. "You're going to control it."

"What?" Decoe and Becoe both looked on confused. "I don't follow you." Becoe stated.

Losing patience with them, Eggman tossed them blueprints of it, saying, "That is the robot you're going to controlling. Get it now?"

Once they saw the blueprints, it all made sense to them. "Ah, I see." Decoe said intriguiged.

Becoe again spoke up, asking, "Are you sure you trust us to control such a large E series robot?"

"Are you saying you can't handle the job?" Eggman demanded with a frown.

"Oh, no, no, no, of course not." Decoe replied confidently. "We can handle this job just fine, Doctor."

"Good." Eggman then tossed his two assistants an instructional manual, saying, "Study this well. You're going to need to know these controls like the back of your hand come tomorrow."

Decoe then put the manual under her left arm, replying while saluting Eggman again with his right, "You can count on us, sir. We won't let you down."

Eggman though didn't respond for a bit, as he instead said with a mutter, "All right, enough of you buttering me up. Leave me in peace now so I can put the final touches on my plan tomorrow."

"Yes, sir."

And with that, the two assistants left the room in a hurry.

Once they were gone, Eggman went over his plans one more time, making sure everything was in order.

Within ten seconds into this, he heard someone ask, "You sure you can trust those two morons?"

Eggman quickly turned around, now no longer surprised by her abrupt visits.

"And just where have you been?" he demanded.

"I've been… around."

Eggman didn't like the sound of that whatsoever. Nonetheless, he put it aside, saying firmly, "I don't expect Decoe and Becoe to accomplish much of anything. However, if they can slow them down or get in the way at least, that'll be enough for me."

"Well, at least you're smart enough to know their capabilities."

"Don't get smart with me." Eggman told her sharply.

He then said after a brief pause, "Anyway, I do have to give you some credit. You really put on quite a good act a while ago. You almost had me fooled too."

"What can I say?" the mysterious person retorted. "I'm very good at getting people to trust me."

"Yes, you are… Rouge the bat."

At that moment, she finally stepped out of the shadows, revealing who had been his secret ally the whole time.

"You know..." Eggman commented. "The fact you're turning on your own G.U.N comrades is quite a low place to stoop, even for you."

Rouge though just shrugged his shoulders, replying, "As I told that Catwoman a while ago, I follow them when their objectives suit me, but I follow my own when they don't."

"I see…"

Eggman then said to her, "Well, if everything goes according to plan, the thorn in our sides should soon be taken care of for good this time."

Rouge soon pulled out her hand, extending her hand to Eggman, replying, "I couldn't have said it better myself, Doctor."

However, while they were shaking hands, they both thought secretly, _little does he/she realize, they'll be a part of those I plan to take care of too._

However, unknown to either of them, someone happened to be watching them around the corner of the door. None other than Bokkun himself.

Seeing these two together angered the small flying robot deeply.

_So, Eggman's going to replace me with her, is he? Well, we'll see about that._

Bokkun then turned around and flew away.

_I'll show that Eggman what I can do tomorrow. He'll be sorry he ever though I was useless to him._

Meanwhile at the Thorndyke mansion, the work in the garage continued, in spite of the fact it was getting very late.

Sonic, who had been helping Tails the whole time, said to him, "I think we should get some rest now, bud. It's almost midnight."

Tails though still wasn't ready to call it quits. "I still need to make a few more modifications to the wings."

"Can't it wait until tomorrow?" the blue hedgehog asked.

"No, it can't." Tails reiterated sharply. "I'm attempting to install laser weapons onto the wings, and it's going to take some time to make sure it's fully operational."

"Aren't you the least bit sleepy though?" Sonic asked him.

"Nope. I'm doing just fine, thank you."

Sonic on the other hand though was very sleepy inside, as it had been a long day. Not to mention he was still feeling some of the effects from a deep chest wound.

Tails on the other hand seemed still be very vigilant, even a bit energetic. The fact he was still giving it all in spite of his physical condition was nothing short of amazing to the blue hedgehog.

Sonic could only conclude Tails was running on pure emotion and adrenaline now.

He then asked the two tailed fox, "So, how much longer do you think it'll be?"

"I'm not sure to be honest." Tails replied. "Maybe within thirty minutes, or even as long as two hours. It all depends on how well this installation goes."

Sonic could only groan in fatigue, as he really wanted to hit the sack now.

Amy by this time had already gone to bed. Since she had practiced to her heart's content with her Piko Hammer and ran as many laps as she could handle, the pink hedgehog decided to go to bed early in order to be ready to go.

However, she would not sleep well for long.

While she was fast asleep, Amy had a terrifying nightmare, none other than the E-100 series invading the mansion and slaughtering the Thorndyke family. During her nightmare, Amy could only watch in despair, as she saw each member of the Thorndyke meet a gruesome demise in front of her eyes.

One by one, they were all shot down in cold blood, making her scream with great fear while she witnessed this.

Due to it being a nightmare, it soon became even more graphic for her than what really happened.

After they killed the entire Thorndyke family, The E-100 Series robots soon cornered her and Cream in the home, aiming their machine guns at their heads. To make matters worse, Amy couldn't find her Piko Hammer at all.

Amy then heard herself pleading to them while clutching Cream tightly in front of her, "Please don't kill us! I beg you!"

But instead, all she heard in return was in very dark monotones, "Terminate female hedgehog and rabbit."

And with that, they opened fire, making her scream in fear, with everything going black moments later.

Amy instantly woke up after that, still screaming loudly, now in a deep sweat.

Hearing her screams, Sonic quickly ran to her room, saying, "Amy, what's wrong?"

Amy though at this point could not speak, as reliving that memory had deeply traumatized her. Instead, all she could do was cry, as she buried her hands in her face.

Sonic then walked closer to her bed, asking, "Would you please tell me what's the matter? Why are you so upset now?"

Amy still couldn't speak, but tried to anyway, saying while trying to hold back the tears, "I had a terrible nightmare."

"So? We all have them." Sonic replied a bit bluntly. "It's not that big of a deal."

Angered by his lack of compassion, Amy lashed out at him, "Sonikku! My nightmare was about what Eggman's robots did to the Thorndyke family!"

At this point, Sonic really felt bad guilty inside. "Oh… I see." He said sheepishly.

Amy again broke down in tears, as she just couldn't handle that memory inside anymore. During the days that followed the E-100 series raid, the pink hedgehog had basically tried to put that day out of her mind and not think about it.

However, with this nightmare bringing it back in full swing, her fragile emotional state was now deeply broken inside.

Sonic tried to comfort her while she cried, saying, "Amy, please don't let this damage your spirit. You need to stay strong."

"That's easy for you to say." Amy shot back while sniffling. "You weren't there when it happened."

Deep down, Sonic knew she was right about that. He basically had no idea how much harm that event had done to her.

He then said to the pink hedgehog while looking down at the floor with a lot of guilt in his voice, "You're right. This is all my fault. I should have taken you with me when Tails and I went to the Mystic Ruins."

He then said to her, now looking at Amy with sadness in his eyes, "I'm so sorry for putting you through all of that. Can you ever forgive me?"

Amy though replied a bit surprisingly after a brief pause, "Actually, in a way, it was for the best that you left me behind."

Deeply perplexed by this statement of hers, Amy explained somberly, "Had I not been there, I know Cream would have been killed too. And… I just couldn't handle that. It's bad enough she's been kidnapped by Eggman now."

Sonic couldn't deny this at all.

Amy at this point was still crying inside, as she told him, "Anyway, I don't hold any hard feelings against you for leaving me. I do understand a little that I drive you a bit crazy inside when I constantly cling to you."

Sonic nodded his head in agreement, finally grateful that she did indeed understand this.

Amy though said to him while looking at Sonic with watershed eyes, "It's just… I don't know how else to tell you how much I love you."

Sonic now felt deep sympathy inside, as she added, "You mean so much to me, that I can't help myself at times."

"Well, I guess I can understand that somewhat." Sonic said softly.

"If you only knew how much I wanted to give you with my genuine love." Amy told him, still crying a bit inside. "I don't think you would run away so much."

"Amy…. I…"

"I'm serious, Sonikku." Amy reiterated interrupting. "I love you so much, that I would be willing to do almost anything for you if it meant being your true love."

Sonic was now silent inside, as Amy continued. "I want increase your joy when you're happy, hug you tightly and comfort you when you're sad, even stand by your side during those tender, quiet moments.

"Amy, I don't know if I could…"

"Sonic, please… hear me out." The pink hedgehog pleaded. "I need to say this to you."

So, Sonic let her speak. She then continued, "I really want us to become better friends, where we'll soon share our personal thoughts with each other, maybe even share a kiss or two and then someday start dating and maybe even get married not long after."

Sonic was very tempted to interrupt her after hearing about marriage, but thought better of it.

"I want so badly to start a family with you someday, Sonikku, and give you lovely children in return for us to raise and cherish. And… I hope to see us to grow old together, where you and I will be one for life, always being there for each other. That's… how much I love you."

At this point, Sonic had mixed emotions. While he was a bit flattered by Amy's words, he couldn't help but feel a bit awkward inside too.

Amy though beat him to it, saying, "I wanted you know all of this, because you deserve to know why I pursue you so much."

"Amy… I… don't know what to say."

"I don't expect you to return my love just because I told you this." Amy said to him. "But I wanted you to know… that I'm not just some silly fan girl with a huge crush on you." She then added with love in her voice, "It's much deeper than that."

At this point, Sonic couldn't help but smile, as her words had now deeply touched him inside. He then did something to Amy he had never done before. He reached out and hugged her tightly.

Amy at this point was deeply stunned by his actions, but didn't resist. Instead, she returned his embrace, still crying inside.

"Thank you." Sonic said softly. "I needed to hear that."

"You're welcome, Sonikku."

Amy then asked him with a sniffle after they let go, "Does… this mean you love me too now?"

"Well… not exactly." Sonic replied hesitantly, looking away.

"What?" Amy was deeply disappointed to hear this, as she asked, "Why not?"

"It's… complicated." He told her, now looking at the floor.

"Is it another female?" Amy inquired.

"Amy, please don't go there." Sonic said with a sigh.

"Just please tell me it isn't Kitty." The pink hedgehog replied concerned. "You owe me that much at least."

Sonic now groaned heavily, saying, "Amy, how many times do I have to tell you Kitty and me are not an item? I thought you promised me you were going to lay off of accusing her of trying to steal me from you."

Amy unfortunately hadn't kept her word about this to him.

Sonic then told her plainly, "Amy, I'm not seeing anyone else, ok?"

"Then… why can't you say you love me?" Amy inquired, looking at him with sad eyes. "I don't understand."

"Because… it's not something I can just say so easily." Sonic replied. "I'm not the mushy type."

"Oh."

"Plus, you smothering me alot has turned me off somewhat." The blue hedgehog reiterated. "No offense."

Amy deep down knew he had a point. "I'm sorry if I drove you away, Sonic. That was never my intention."

"Yea, I know." Sonic replied softly.

"Can you give me another chance for us to become better friends?" Amy asked. "Please…?"

Sonic sighed heavily, replying, "Well, I guess so."

"Thanks." Amy said with a slight smile.

"But if we're ever going to become better friends, you're going have to let our friendship grow naturally and not get so jealous all the time when I interact with another female like Kitty." Sonic reiterated. "Can you do that for me?"

"I'll try to." Amy answered softly. "But it's not easy for me you know…"

"I kind of figured that." Sonic said.

Moments later, Sonic heard Tails calling for him.

"I guess I better be going." The blue hedgehog said sheepishly. "My lil bro needs my help again."

"Oh, ok."

Sonic then turned to leave, but asked Amy before he did, "You going to be ok now?"

"Yea, I'll be fine." Amy replied softly. She quickly added with a smile, "Thanks to you."

Sonic couldn't help but smile back, as he said, "No prob. Sweet dreams, Amy."

And with that, the blue hedgehog left the room. Once he was gone, Amy thought with a deep sigh, _Oh, Sonikku… I really hope someday you'll grow to love me like I do for you. But, even if you don't, I'll still love you the same._

Deep down, Amy really hoped nobody else would win Sonic's heart, but was now somewhat contemplating inside about letting him go if it wasn't meant to be.

_As long as my Sonikku is happy, that's the important thing. I just hope I get to be the one who does that for him._

Sonic meanwhile ran back as fast as he could, as Tails said to him with a frown, "What took you so long? I've been stuck here for a couple of minutes trying to grab some tools out of reach."

"Sorry, bud." Sonic replied. "Amy needed me."

"Oh, I see…" Tails then asked with a rib, "Were you two kissing?"

"Tails!" Sonic scolded with his hands at his waist. "I wasn't doing anything like that."

"Sorry, couldn't resist." Tails said, trying to stifle a grin.

He then asked Sonic after a brief pause, "So, what were you doing then?"

"Well, I went to see what Amy was screaming about." Sonic explained.

"And…?"

"Well, apparently, she had a nightmare about Eggman's E-100 series robots invading the mansion again." Sonic told him. "It really traumatized her."

"Oh… I see…"

Tails now felt a bit guilty for ribbing Sonic earlier, but asked a few moments later, "Well, why were you up there for so long then?"

"Amy wanted to clear something up to me apparently."

"What was it about exactly?" Tails inquired while tinkering with the wing underneath him.

Sonic though just shrugged his shoulders, replying, "I rather not say. It was very personal."

"Really?"

Tails had a pretty good idea what Amy had said to him, but decided to not push it since Sonic had done the same to him about his crush on Kitty either.

Sonic then asked the two tailed fox out of the blue, "So, how much longer do you think it'll be until you're done?"

"Sonic, I already told you." Tails reiterated a bit annoyed. "It's going to be a while. This is something I can't just rush."

By this point, Sonic heavily sighed, as he finally accepted the fate that he was not going to bed early tonight as originally planned.

Back at Eggman's base, Eggman and Rouge had one last conversation before the manipulating bat went back to G.U.N.

By this time, Rouge had seen Metal Sonic, as she commented about it, "Well, I have to say, this may be your best robot yet."

"Oh, it is my best all right." Eggman replied firmly.

"Oh yea, what makes you so sure?" Rouge inquired, still skeptical.

"Simple." Eggman answered. "Like Emerl, Metal Sonic has the ability to copy abilities from Mobians like yourself and use them."

"Really?"

"But what makes this robot special is the fact it's 10X the machine Emerl is." Eggman explained. "It's faster, stronger, and much more unpredictable."

"Is that a fact?"

"Indeed." The mad doctor replied with glee. "And that's not the best part. This robot will be able to emulate Sonic's attack patterns, down to the last minute detail."

At this point, Rouge was finally impressed. She then commented to him, "You really outdid yourself this time, Doctor. Well done."

Eggman flashed another evil grin at her, saying with a chuckle, "I thought you might like it."

Moments later, Rouge was about to take off and head back to G.U.N. However, before she did, she asked Eggman, "I do have one more concern though."

"Like what?" Eggman inquired.

"Well, I know you brought Cream here as your leverage over Sonic and his friends, but what about G.U.N? How are you going to hold them back when they're coming for you tomorrow with everything they have?"

To Rouge's surprise, Eggman replied quickly, "Oh, don't worry about them. I have that concern fully under control."

'How so?" Rouge asked with curiosity.

Eggman though didn't tell her. Instead, he answered with another sly grin, "You'll find out eventually. It'll be a surprise nobody will see coming."

Rouge didn't know what to think of that statement, but decided to not push it any further. Instead, she said to him as she spread her wings, "See you tomorrow, doc."

And with those words, she left.

As soon as she was out of sight, Eggman said to himself, "Oh, I will all right. And little do you realize, tomorrow will be your last day on earth."

Eggman then turned to his new robot Metal Sonic and said to it, "And you, my little pet, I shall put you to the test and see just how powerful you really can be."

Within seconds, the mad doctor activated Metal Sonic and sent him flying out of the base, but in a different direction so Rouge would not see it.

Decoe and Becoe meanwhile happened to witness this move of their boss from outside the door, puzzling them both.

Eggman however noticed they were nearby, making him say, "So, you two snooping on me again, eh?"

"Not us, sir." Decoe replied awkwardly, now hesitantly walking in.

"Yea, we didn't hear anything about what you told Rouge a while just a minute ago." Becoe reiterated.

"Oh, put a cork in it!" Eggman shouted. He then demanded, "Aren't you two supposed to be studying that manual I gave you?"

Decoe again spoke up though, saying a few seconds later, "We have it mostly converted to our memory bank now, sir. But… if you could clear something up for us, Doctor, we'd really appreciate it."

"What is it?" Eggman demanded annoyed.

"Um… you mind telling us why you sent out Metal Sonic just now?" Becoe inquired.

"What's that to you?" Eggman retorted.

"Well it's just that…" Decoe said. "You really got us curious now."

Eggman though just let out a huff in response, as Decoe soon added, "You didn't send it out to kill Rouge, are you?"

"What, are you nuts?" Eggman shot back. "You really think I do something that stupid?"

Decoe and Becoe were now hesitant in their words, but Becoe replied unwisely, "Well, uh... maybe..."

"Did you just come out and question my decision making?" Eggman roared.

Becoe instantly regretted what he said, now saying with fear, "Oh, no, no, of course not, sir. I wouldn't dare do that."

Eggman now glared at him intently, making Becoe feel even more uneasy inside. To say the least, the mad doctor was very tempted to punish him, but decided to let it go this time.

Eggman then said bluntly, "If you two ninnies insist on knowing why I sent out Metal Sonic, I'll just put it this way. I'm going to give G.U.N a big reason to be very hesitant to attack me tomorrow."

"And what would that be exactly?" Decoe inquired.

"Just like I told Rouge, you'll find out eventually." Eggman retorted. "Now then, unless you have any other intelligent questions to ask me, leave me in peace."

Deciding not to push their luck, Decoe and Becoe did as they were told, quickly leaving the room. Once they were gone, Eggman muttered to himself, "Sometimes I wonder why I even have them as my assistants at all. I think a can opener could be more useful than them at times."

Eggman then looked out the window at the night sky, thinking with glee, _No matter._ _Within twenty four hours, Sonic, Kitty, and her G.U.N scum will all be wiped out permanently. And then, Central City and its citizens shall be under MY control, forever._

And with that thought, the mad scientist began to laugh heartily to himself silently.


	14. GUN VS Eggman

Several hours later, as dawn approached, the tension in the air began to rise dramatically. Kitty unfortunately did not sleep as well as she would have liked due to being very nervous, as well wondering just how loyal Rouge really was to G.U.N.

However, she would not have much longer to think about it. At exactly 4:30am, Topaz woke Kitty up, saying, "C'mon, we need to get going."

Kitty at this point was more anxious than sleepy, replying with a yawn, "Right."

Once she stood up, Kitty looked at Topaz and asked, "You ready to do this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be I guess…" Topaz replied with a sigh.

Kitty then put a hand on her right shoulder, saying, "Today, we'll avenge those Eggman brutally killed. You hear me?"

"I really hope you're right about that." Topaz answered hesitantly.

Kitty could sense doubt and fear within her G.U.N agent friend, so she said to her confidently, "Stay strong, Topaz. I know this is what Tanaka would have wanted from you."

Topaz was slightly offended by the way Kitty mentioned his name, but knew she was right. So, Topaz clutched Kitty's right hand with hers, replying with a sniffle while nodding, "Ok. Let's do it, for Tanaka."

Kitty and Topaz then embraced each other as comrades tightly and prepared to get ready to go, as they each showered, ate a hearty breakfast and got dressed, all within a span of twenty minutes.

After that, the two of them headed to the weapons storage room, as it was now open for G.U.N agents to arm themselves for battle. In spite of the fact Kitty felt she might not be needed, the feline agent nonetheless brought out the heavy artillery.

She decided to equip herself again with an RPG-7 this time, as well as the M32 grenade launcher. Topaz on the other hand just brought out a M4A1 Carbine, thinking it would be enough for her.

Kitty though told Topaz, saying while shaking her head, "You're going to need more than that if you're going to have a chance against Eggman."

"But why do we even need these big weapons when we're probably not even going to be on the frontlines?" Topaz inquired.

"You never know…" Kitty replied. "Better safe than sorry, right?"

Topaz couldn't argue with that. So, after talking it over with Kitty, the two decided to split the weapons, with Kitty manning the RPG-7 and M249 SAW laser machine gun, while Topaz took the M32 grenade launcher and a laser powered version of the M4A1 Carbine.

Topaz then asked Kitty, "Are you sure these laser powered prototype weapons are the way to go? I hear they don't have a long battery life and still have a lot of bugs to work out."

"I'm aware of that." Kitty replied. "But I believe they're a better choice than the ones that just fire bullets, especially since most of Eggman's robots are bullet proof anyway."

"Good point." Topaz said softly.

As before, Kitty stocked up with smaller weapons too, bringing again magnetic bombs and grenades.

A few moments later, another explosive weapon caught her eye.

"What's this?" Kitty inquired.

"Oh those?" Topaz replied. "They're C-4 explosives in a packaged rectangle boxes. We use those to blast down a locked door or even walls when needed."

"Really?" Kitty was very intrigued by this kind of weapon, especially after Eggman had attempted to use two large ones on her to try and take her out.

Kitty then attempted to put a couple in her bag, when Topaz quickly said objecting, "I really don't think they'll be necessary. I mean, G.U.N's main forces should be able to blast Eggman's base to bits with ease, right?"

Kitty though looked at her intently, replying, "Topaz, if there's one thing I know about Eggman, you never underestimate him."

Topaz at this point realized Kitty knew something she didn't, so she asked her hesitance, "Are… you actually thinking Eggman might be able to outwit our entire army?"

"Topaz, I don't just think it, I'm almost certain of it." Kitty replied firmly. "After dealing with him on the Egg Carrier and twice at the Thorndyke mansion, I've come to the conclusion that you never can count him out. He can come back and bite you when you least expect it."

"I never thought of it that way." Topaz stated softly after a brief pause. "But, you're right. On that day he attacked Central City, he made the entire G.U.N army look foolish."

By now, Topaz was fully convinced. She then said to Kitty, "Ok, let's take as much ammunition as we can carry with us."

"That's the spirit." Kitty replied with a sly smile.

And with those words, the two of them did just that. Kitty soon began to load her bag with the RPG-7's again, fitting as many as she could inside. Due to the fact she were bringing extra battery packs and 40mm grenades too, Kitty could only fit no more than five warheads in her bag.

Thankfully for Kitty though, Topaz would also bring along a weapons supply bag too, as she was able to carry five war heads as well, including additional grenades and battery packs.

After that was finished, Kitty soon found the super suction handles she had used from before. Since they had come in handy last time, the feline agent decided to bring a couple in her pockets again..

"Now all I need is some bullet proof metal to put around this and I'll have a nice shield again like before." Kitty stated confidently.

"Well, I doubt you'll find any of that here." Topaz told her. "We don't exactly have that much lying bullet proof material around just for that kind of purpose."

Kitty though shrugged her shoulders, replying, "No matter. Maybe I'll get lucky again and find something to use like last time."

Now fully equipped, the two female G.U.N agents headed for the meeting room, where the Commander would give the troops one last word of instruction.

On the way there, they inadvertently bumped into Rouge, who happened to be heading there herself.

Rouge then commented, bantering them a bit, "Well, don't you two look ready for action."

"Save your witty remarks for later, Rouge." Kitty shot back firmly. "We have a war to fight."

"Well, excuse me for having a little fun with you." The manipulating bat retorted. "Seriously, you need to learn to lighten up."

Kitty though just frowned at her, soon asking, "Speaking of which, where were you last night?"

"Since when is that any concern of yours?" Rouge demanded annoyed. "Where I go is none of your business."

"I know you went after Eggman once the battle at the Thorndyke mansion was over." Kitty replied. "But you were gone for over six hours."

"So what?" Rouge said.

"So my question to you is, did you really go after Eggman, or did you just say that to throw us off?" Kitty interrogated.

Rouge now frowned at the feline agent, stating, "You know, you're really sticking your nose in places you shouldn't, Catgirl."

Kitty instantly took that as a no, replying while pointing a finger at her, "You're hiding something, Rouge. I can smell it."

At this point, even Topaz was almost convinced, saying to the female bat with deep concern in her voice, "Rouge, please tell me this is all one big misunderstanding."

Rouge was now silent inside, as Topaz added, "I don't want to think the worst about you, Rouge. You're my friend and I do care about you. So please, tell me the truth. Are… you actually conspiring behind the scenes?"

To Kitty's surprise, Rouge pulled off an amazing feat. She slowly walked towards Topaz and told her softly, "I would never do anything to hurt you, Topaz. I value your friendship as much as you do."

"Well, why is it these things Kitty is saying to me is starting to make some sense?" Topaz inquired, with concern still in her voice.

"This feline is just being spiteful because I had a little fun with her during our training missions together." Rouge explained. "She's just jealous of me and trying to slander my name any chance she gets."

"You big liar!" Kitty shouted, now deeply angered by her words. "You know that's not true at all! You left me to die on the Egg Carrier!"

"You don't have any proof of that whatsoever." Rouge retorted. "It's basically your word against mine."

Unfortunately for Kitty, she knew Rouge was right about that. There was no proof at all of Rouge deserting her.

Topaz then said softly, "I'm so… confused inside. Who do I believe?"

Kitty again tried to reason with Topaz saying, "Topaz, I know this is hard for you, but I really don't believe we can trust Rouge. I think she may have been the one who stole that modulator from G.U.N last night.

"Boy, you would say anything to make me worse than I really am." Rouge retorted. "You seriously need to get over your little grudge against me."

"I'm not saying that doesn't have some merit!" Kitty shot back. "You've been acting very shady as of late."

"Can you even prove this convoluted theory of yours of me being a double agent?" Rouge challenged.

Again, Kitty could not. All she had unfortunately was theories.

"Uh huh, just as I thought." Rouge said, crossing her arms together. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself for trying to turn Topaz against me, Kitty. That's a new low, even for you."

Kitty at this point could only glare fiercely at the manipulating bat, as she was unable to find a retort. Topaz then spoke up, saying to Kitty, "I think we should give Rouge a chance to prove us wrong."

"But Topaz…"

Topaz though interrupted her, saying, "Kitty… Rouge is still my friend, even if you two are at odds with each other. Please give her a chance for my sake. Please…"

Deep down, Kitty didn't want to, but since she had a lot of respect for Topaz and didn't want to upset her any further, she replied softly after a long pause, "Well… ok then."

"Thank you." Topaz said with a smile.

"There, see? Was that so hard?" Rouge asked icily.

_Actually, it was. _Kitty thought. However, she replied instead, for Topaz's sake again, "Well, I guess not."

"C'mon, we have less than two minutes to make it to the meeting room." Topaz said. "Let's get going."

"Right behind you." Rouge replied.

Kitty then allowed Topaz to walk ahead of them, where she glared at Rouge next to her and said softly, "You may have fooled Topaz with your smooth talk, but I'm smart enough to figure out there's something going on."

"Believe what you want, Catwoman." Rouge retorted. "But I meant every word I said to Topaz about my friendship with her."

Kitty though didn't believe that one iota. She then said to Rouge, "Whether you did or not, I'm keeping a close eye on you. I don't believe for a minute you're done surprising me yet."

"Maybe I will… maybe I won't." Rouge teased with a smug look on her face. "I guess you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?"

Kitty again couldn't find a retort, but instead glared at the female bat once more while they walked.

Before she knew it, they had arrived at the meeting room, even a bit early.

The three G.U.N agents soon had a seat, where the G.U.N commander eventually walked to the pedestal in the middle of the room and addressed his unit.

"Welcome, my fellow soldiers." He said warmly, but firmly.

He then added after a brief pause, "This very day, could be a historical one for all us, as today, we embark on a mission to rid our world of Eggman, once and for all."

Nearly every member of in the audience voiced their approval, letting out a small cheer, including Topaz and Rouge. Kitty however, did not. She could not help but feel uneasy about the whole battle.

"Very shortly, our President will arrive here and give us word about the battle. But, in the meantime, I have an important matter to discuss."

Kitty feared this is where he would mention the stolen part. Not surprisingly, she was right.

"In case you are not aware, a very important device was stolen from our weapon's supply room yesterday, none other than an override modulator.

Kitty then glanced over at Rouge to see her reaction to news, but saw no change at all in her facial expressions whatsoever.

"Once the President is done addressing us, you will all drop your weapons and anything else made of metal and step into this metal detector to my right." Commander Tower stated. "I'm not saying I don't trust any of you, but I rather be safe than sorry. You understand, right?"

Everyone in the audience nodded their heads in response to this. Kitty however could help but feel the G.U.N commander was specifically eyeing her as he said this.

_Is he really that determined to target me that he has to go so far as personally suspect me in this matter?_

Kitty again couldn't help but feel she was being treated unfairly somewhat, but decided to not let it get to her.

_If I get a shot, I'll show the Commander how valuable I am to his cause._

Commander Tower then looked at his watch, where he patiently waited for the President to show. But to his surprise, he did not. After waiting five minutes, he finally called one of his generals and demanded, "Where is he? I can't wait much longer."

"Sir, I regret to inform I have no idea that I really have no idea at the moment." The general replied softly.

"What? What do you mean you don't know where he is?" Commander Towers demanded. "Didn't you get in touch with his secret service?"

"But that's just it, sir." The general told him. "I received no word from them whatsoever."

This news deeply baffled the G.U.N Commander, as he didn't know what to make of this. Eventually though, he said after a long pause, "Never mind. Perhaps the President had emergency business to take care of. We can talk with him later. Right now, we need to the metal detector screening going."

"Yes, sir."

Kitty however managed to hear the gist of this conversation, making her think, _The President didn't show up to address the troops? That's a first. _

Unfortunately for the feline agent, she had no more time to ponder this over, as the Commander finally spoke up, saying loudly, "It appears the President won't be addressing us after all. No matter. We'll just get down to the next line of business."

He then said to everyone firmly, "All right, everyone, please form a line, leaving behind all your weapons and other metal materials, where we can all scan you appropriately."

Everyone in the audience did as they were told. While Kitty got into line, Rouge asked her smugly, "Are you nervous?"

"Are you?" Kitty retorted, glaring at her.

"I have no reason to be." Rouge told Kitty with smugness. "I don't have that part on me, so I have nothing to worry about."

"Neither do I." Kitty shot back.

"You better hope you're right about that." Rouge said, ribbing her. "I sure hate to be in the person's shoes when the Commander finds out who has that device."

"You just worry about yourself." Kitty reiterated firmly. "I can handle this just fine, thank you."

Thankfully, Rouge didn't push it any further, as Kitty now kept her eye on the line which it was beginning to move.

Before she knew it, it began to move faster than expected. As it turned out, the scanning for each solider or agent only took five to ten seconds tops. Not even ten minutes passed, and Kitty was next in line.

As she headed towards the machine, Kitty saw the G.U.N Commander watching closely. He then said to her with authority, "Well, agent Katswell, are you ready for your scan?"

"Yes I am, sir." Kitty replied firmly, but respectfully. "Rest assured, you will not find the part on me."

"Well, I hope you'll be right about that." Commander Towers said a bit bluntly.

Kitty then stepped in the machine, as it scanned her body for metal thoroughly. Within seconds, it came out negative.

Commander Towers was a little surprised to say the least, but soon composed himself saying, "Well, I guess you were right after all."

"I told you I was innocent, sir." Kitty reiterated firmly, trying to hide her frustration.

"Yes, of course."

While Rouge was being scanned, the Commander said to Kitty, "Well, just to be on the safe side, I hope you'll allow me to personally check your weapons bag as an extra precaution."

"Go right ahead, Commander." Kitty told him. "I have nothing to hide."

Just then, Rouge's scan results finished, with the examiner telling Commander Towers, "Her scan came out negative, sir."

"Ah, excellent." The Commander said with a slight smile.

He then walked over to Kitty's weapons bag and searched it thoroughly. As he did so, the Commander commented, "You sure packed this bag to the max, didn't you?"

"I like to be prepared, sir." Kitty replied. "Just in case I'm needed."

"Ah, yes… well…" The Commander said, cleared his throat. "Your attention to detail is very admirable. Good job."

Kitty was relieved to hear him say that, that is until he started rummaging through Topaz's weapons bag too.

"Sir, that's agent Topaz's bag." Kitty reiterated.

"I'm aware of that." Commander Tower told her sharply. "I'm just curious."

Kitty at this point couldn't help but feel very uneasy inside, as she soon asked with hesitance, "Commander, do… you really think I had something to do with the missing part?"

After hearing this, Commander Towers realized he was overstepping his boundaries a bit. So, to cover his true intentions, he told Kitty softly, "No, no, of course not. I believe you're one of our finer agents here."

"Really?"

"Yes… But, I have to find that part." Commander Towers reiterated. "If it falls into the wrong hands, it could do a lot of damage to our military."

Kitty couldn't argue with that, though she felt he wasn't been 100% honest with her.

"It's nothing personal." He told her. "But I have to do my job. You understand, right?"

"I guess so…"

Kitty again didn't believe him, as she felt he was subtly punishing her for going after Eggman without his permission.

Seconds later, the Commander finished his search, as the part was nowhere to be found. So, in an attempt to look good in front of his troops, he said to Kitty, "Well, apparently, it's not here. I apologize for suspecting you."

Kitty, trying to not make a bigger deal out of this than it was, replied, "Its ok, sir. I understand as Commander, you have a lot of responsibilities here."

Again, the Commander cleared his throat, saying, "Um, yes… Anyway, if you'll excuse me."

And with that, Commander Tower walked back to the metal detector, keeping a close eye on the results from the rest of the G.U.N soldiers.

As he did so, Topaz, who was done with her scan by now, said to Kitty, "Wow, I can't believe it. He actually thought you might be the thief."

"Yea, I know." Kitty replied softly.

"Why would he do that?" Topaz asked, deeply puzzled. "I don't understand."

"I can tell you that." Rouge answered smugly, walking over to them.

"Rouge, this is none of your business." Kitty told her sharply.

"Oh, but I think it is." The female bat retorted. "After all, you dragged me into it."

"Well, excuse me for actually making you get off your pampered batty hide and doing something useful for a change." Kitty shot back.

"And what good did it do?" Rouge inquired, crossing her arms together. "All it did was get you on the Commander's bad side."

Kitty unfortunately couldn't deny her accusation. Topaz on the other hand didn't know what make out of all of this.

"Never mind that." Kitty said after a brief pause. "I'll show the Commander soon enough he was wrong about me when this battle is all said and done."

"I doubt that'll happen." Rouge retorted. "Especially since you're not even going to be on the front lines."

Kitty again was about to say something as a rebuttal, when Topaz finally spoke up, saying, "Ladies, please stop arguing already. We're a team, and we need to work together, ok?"

Kitty and Rouge though just looked away from each other, as the idea completely repulsed them.

Topaz however wouldn't let this matter go, as she added, "C'mon, put your differences aside for one day and act as comrades, all right?"

Again, Kitty and Rouge wouldn't hear of it, as they had their fill with each other by this point.

Topaz then said as a last resort, "If you two are really my friends, you'll do this for me."

After hearing that, Kitty and Rouge looked at each other awkwardly, with Rouge saying eventually with hesitation, "Well… I guess so." She then extended her hand to Kitty and said, "Comrades?"

Kitty didn't want to shake her hand, but for Topaz's sake, she did, replying softly, "Comrades."

As they shook hands, Topaz said with a smile, "There, see? Doesn't it feel good to work together instead of being at odds?"

Not surprisingly, both of them thought simultaneously, _don't bet on it. _

As soon as the metal scanning process was complete, G.U.N's forces instantly set out for the Eggman base. They had brought nearly everything with them, fighter jets, navy ships, tanks, the works.

In spite of the fact it was a very large force, they for the most part managed to get their troops to their targeted area without too much notice from the citizens due to it being early in the morning, as well as being very discreet about their departure.

As Kitty had expected, she would be among the back of the G.U.N troops. Nonetheless, this didn't deter her vigor in the least. Instead, she kept her composure and would wait patiently for a shot.

_If Eggman continues to play this game of his, then G.U.N is in for a very long battle._

Kitty's assumption would be right on the money, as Eggman was more ready for G.U.N than they would ever realize.

Eggman had Decoe and Becoe watching the surveillance footage around the base, as he ordered them to give him an update the minute they arrived.

The second the surveillance cameras picked up the approaching army, Decoe said over the PTA system, "Dr. Eggman, G.U.N's army is approaching and should be around the base within two minutes."

Eggman during this time wasn't the least bit nervous. Instead, he had a big smile on his face, commenting while rubbing his hands together, "Perfect. The G.U.N slime is right on cue as always."

"Shall we activate the base's defense system and launch a counter strike?" Becoe suggested.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Eggman shouted, annoyed at the idea.

"But sir…"

"I want to savor this battle, you nincombot!" Eggman roared. "Hold your positions until I tell you otherwise!"

Decoe and Becoe didn't understand their boss' instruction at all, but complied with it nonetheless.

"As you wish, Doctor."

Eggman then switched the footage from his two assistants to the surveillance cameras now, keeping a close eye on G.U.N's arrival.

_I am so going to enjoy handing G.U.N a humiliating defeat. Even their entire army won't be enough to take me out._

While this was going on, Sonic and the others were preparing to leave the mansion to join the battle. Tails was in the process of putting the final touches on his X-Tornado, as Amy came running out, saying, "Guys, come quick!"

"What, what was it?" Sonic inquired with concern. "Did Eggman already defeat G.U.N?"

"No, but it's still bad news nonetheless." Amy replied.

"How bad could it be for us to take time out of our busy schedule?" Tails asked while in the cockpit of the X-Tornado.

"See for yourself." Amy reiterated.

Since the pink hedgehog pushed the issue further, Sonic and Tails eventually gave in and went to see what Amy was talking.

Once they saw it, they too jaw dropped.

"This can't be for real." Tails commented stunned.

But it was, as the news reporter continued its coverage.

"That's right. Not even five minutes ago, the President of Central City has officially gone missing. The cleaning staff of his office was the first on the scene to make this discovery, as they saw all the secret service guards had been overpowered and brutally killed."

All three of them were completely baffled as to who could have done this.

"Could Eggman have done this?" Sonic pondered.

"I don't see how he could have." Tails replied. "Even he's not that fast and strong enough to take out the entire secret service."

Moments later, the coverage went from to strange to completely bizarre, as the news reporter continued. "What makes this incident even more puzzling is the fact the surveillance shots of the culprit appear to be none other than Central City's hero, Sonic the hedgehog."

"WHAT?" Sonic at this point was incensed, shouting, "That looking nothing like me! Are they blind or something?"

Tails took a good look at it, replying, "The funny thing is, it does look like you somewhat. It's blue, has spikes, and…"

"It's a machine!" Sonic countered. "Are the news people of this city so dumb they can't see the difference?"

"Let's not forget, this is the same news coverage who mistook you for Shadow." Tails said.

Even that memory left a sour note to blue hedgehog. "How could they even think that was me? Since when do I have black fur?"

Before Sonic could rant further, the news anchor said, "Police are investigating the matter, even as we speak, to determine whether or not Sonic is indeed involved with the abduction of the president, who was scheduled to speak at G.U.N HQ earlier this morning."

After hearing that, Sonic was fed up inside. "If those buffoons actually think they're going to question me about this, they have another thing coming!"

"Well, what can we do about it?" Amy inquired. "We can't stop them from coming here."

"No, but we can go before they arrive." Sonic replied firmly.

He then turned to Tails and asked, "Is the X-Tornado ready to go, bud?"

"Well… just about." Tails replied hesitantly.

"Good. Fire up the engines," Sonic instructed him, "Because we're leaving pronto."

"But, Sonic, I still have a few tests to run." Tails protested.

"They're going to have to wait." Sonic reiterated. "We can't afford to waste any more time here."

Tails thought of protesting further, but decided to comply.

"Very well then, I'll do them on the way if possible." He said softly.

"That's the spirit!" Sonic said enthused. "Ok, guys, let's do this!"

And with those words, the three of them boarded the X-Tornado as quickly as possible, with Sonic now riding on top. Once they were in, Tails ignited the engines and prepared for takeoff. Thanks to his new engine modifications, his jet took off faster than before, as it soon took off into the air, eventually reaching top speed.

A minute later in the air, Tails found out Sonic's assumption of the police was right. From the ground below, he saw many squad cars heading towards the mansion.

"I cannot believe they actually think Sonic's involved." Amy commented perplexed.

"I can." Tails replied with a sigh. "If they were naïve enough to believe it with Shadow, they'll do it again."

Not surprisingly, the police cars turned around and began to follow after the X-Tornado once they saw it in the air.

"Now they're following us?" Tails commented dumbfounded. He then shook his head and said, "Will they ever learn?"

"You think they'll get in the way of us trying to take down Eggman?" Amy inquired with concern in her voice.

"I doubt it, but we'll worry about that later." Tails answered firmly.

Sonic meanwhile was enjoying the ride too much to notice, as he shouted psyched up while they traveled, "Oh yea, this is so much more like it! Eggman, here we come!"

Back at Eggman's base, the battle between him and G.U.N was less than a minute away from commencing. As Decoe had announced, the entire G.U.N army quickly surrounded Eggman's base, ready to strike.

Eggman though was more than ready to take them on, as he got his counter measures in order.

Commander Tower then said to his troops after they were in place, "Ok, men, this is the moment we've all been waiting for. Keep your composure and fight with courage and we should walk away with an easy victory."

"Yes, sir." One of his lieutenants answered.

During his brief pep talk, Decoe said to Eggman, "G.U.N's forces are in their designated positions as Rouge told us they would."

"No surprise there." Eggman replied with a grin. "They're too rigid and by the book to make any last second changes."

"Do we have permission to fire at them now, sir?" Becoe asked again.

"NO!" Eggman shouted firmly. "I told you. Wait until I give you the signal, dingbot."

Becoe sighed heavily, but replied softly, "Yes, sir."

Moments later, the G.U.N Commander grabbed a megaphone and spoke into it as loudly as possible. "Dr. Eggman, this is Commander Abraham Towers! Your vile actions have finally reached their end!"

Eggman though just chucked at his words, commenting, "Such arrogance from a pathetic human being."

"You have precisely one minute to surrender and come out of your base with your hands up! If you don't, I shall give the order and annihilate you, along with your entire building!"

Eggman this time didn't say anything, but just grinned, as he was very amused by this threat.

"Your minute starts now, you murderer!" Commander Towers reiterated. "If you know what's good for you, you'll give yourself up!"

Kitty meanwhile felt uneasy about this whole confrontation.

_No way is Eggman going to give himself up now, but how is he going to hold off the entire G.U.N army anyway?_

Deep down, the feline agent didn't have a clue what he was up to.

Just then, Eggman displayed a virtual screen on his island base in front of them, saying with another hearty chuckle, "And if you know what's good for you, you'll skedaddle out of here before I make complete fools outta you and your entire army."

Deeply incensed by his suave composure, Commander Towers shouted back in his megaphone, "You've had your chance, Eggman. You're history now!"

Before he could give the order, Eggman retorted, "Oh? Am I really? I seriously think you need to see who's holding the aces here, Abraham Towers, before making such a bold statement like that. You could really make yourself look bad if you're not careful."

"How dare you talk to this way, Eggman!" Commander Towers shot back. "I'm done negotiating with you now. Let's see how you keep that grin on your face when you have bombs flying around your base!"

The G.U.N again attempted to give the command, but was interrupted, as Eggman retorted once more, "I really don't think you'll want to do that, unless you don't mind sacrificing one of Central City's more important leaders of course."

"What?" Commander Towers was completely baffled by this statement.

Moments later, the entire G.U.N army heard the X-Tornado fly overhead. Once it was in place, Sonic leaped off the jet and headed for the ground, using his spin dash to slow his decent, where he eventually landed on the same navy ship as the G.U.N Commander.

Kitty at this point was enthused inside, as she thought, _yes! They must have decoded my message! Way to go, Tails!_

Sonic then said to the G.U.N army in front of him, "Hey, guys, sorry I'm late."

To put it lightly, Commander Towers was not happy at all to see him. Even Eggman was shocked to see the blue hedgehog on the scene so quickly.

"Just what do you think you're doing here?" the G.U.N commander demanded. "This battle is between us and Eggman. You have no business being here!"

"Sorry, Commander." Sonic replied smugly. "But when it involves Eggbelly, it always becomes my business."

Again, Commander Towers gritted his teeth in anger, as he didn't want any part of the blue hedgehog on the battlefield. His G.U.N troops on the other hand didn't feel that way, as they were grateful to see Sonic giving them a hand.

"Just how did you know we were attacking Eggman this early in the morning anyway?" the Commander demanded.

"It was actually simple really." Sonic replied confidently.

Kitty's body heat instantly went cold, after she heard Commander Towers inquire sharply, "Did agent Katswell tell you we were here?"

Thankfully for her though, Sonic covered her tracks, as he replied, "She didn't have to. It was the Central City's news coverage that gave me the clue to your whereabouts."

"What?" Commander Towers was perplexed by his answer. "How is that possible? We didn't even tell them we were leaving."

"No, but I saw that the President was missing on the news." Sonic answered. "When I heard he didn't give you guys a pep speech early in the morning, I just put two and two together."

Thankfully, the Commander bought that explanation, as he said with a deep sigh, "I'm going to have to have a personal talk with that news team when I'm done here."

Just then, it hit him. "Wait a second, the President is missing? You can't be serious!"

One of his lieutenants however filled him in, saying, "Sir, he's right. I just received word by the staff he has indeed been kidnapped."

"Kidnapped? By whom?" the Commander demanded.

"Well… by what we've been told. It was… him."

"Who?"

"The hedgehog, Commander." His lieutenant replied.

"Is that right?"

Commander Towers then glared at Sonic, saying, "So, that's how you figured out what we were up to… You went to the President's home and got his information from us after kidnapping him."

"What? That's crazy talk." Sonic countered. "Why would I do something like that?"

"Why, for the same reason you took those Chaos Emeralds from the bank a while ago of course!" Commander Towers shot back.

"Hey, I thought it was already determined that was Shadow's doing." Sonic protested.

To his surprise, the Commander wouldn't listen to him any longer, as he ordered his officers around him seconds later, "Arrest the hedgehog and take him into custody!"

Kitty during this time looked on deeply concerned, as she was helpless to do anything at the moment.

One of the officers however spoke up and said, "Sir, we're in the middle of a battle here. We don't have time to do that now."

The Commander then let out a very agitated groan, replying, "Fine, then keep him detained for the time being."

"Yes, sir."

"You're making a big mistake here." Sonic told the Commander.

"Save it for the judge, hedgehog." Commander Towers retorted. "You're done here."

At that moment, several G.U.N officers attempted to cuff him, but Sonic would not let them. He instantly resisted, as he evaded every attempt on their part to restrain him. He had jumped out of the way every time they tried.

Finally, it got to the point where the Commander had enough, ordering his troops to point their guns at him. Sonic by now looked deeply alarmed. Even Kitty was shocked by this order of his.

"Hedgehog, I'm warning you…" The Commander said firmly. "Either you stop resisting arrest, or I'm going to have every officer here fire at your meddling blue hide."

At this point, Kitty gasped in horror, as she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Even then, Sonic wouldn't back down. "Go ahead and shoot. I'm way too fast for any of your guns anyway."

"All right, you asked for it!" Commander Towers shouted angrily.

Again, he was in the process of giving the order to fire, when Kitty finally spoke up.

"Sonic, please do as they ask!" She pleaded loudly from a distance.

Everyone turned around to look at her. Even Sonic did too.

"You can't serious, Kitty." Sonic said to her. "You want me to let them arrest me for something I didn't do?"

"Just for right now." She replied. "We can sort this mess out later. Please, Sonic… trust me on this."

Surprisingly, the Commander was not angry at all by her intervention, as he said firmly instead, "Well, are you going to cooperate or not?"

Deep down, Sonic didn't want to, but for the sake of Kitty, he did. He then extended his hands out towards them in an act of surrender, giving the ok for the officers to cuff him.

As they were cuffing him securely, the Commander said to Kitty with a sly grin, "Well, I'm glad to see you talked some sense into your little friend here. Maybe you're better than I give you credit for."

Kitty though didn't take that as a compliment at all. Instead, she felt and sad and guilty inside for having Sonic back down, even though it was the right thing to do for now.

Seconds later, they led Sonic away to one of their choppers, where he would be detained for the time being. Once he was inside of it, Eggman finally spoke up after watching this controversial scene. He was all smiles to say the least.

He then let out another hearty laugh, saying, "Well, who would've thought G.U.N would actually have done my work for me? By taking that meddling hedgehog out of the equation, you actually made my job alot easier. I should really thank you."

"Shut your mouth, you mad man!" Commander Towers shouted, now speaking in his megaphone again. "Your base will soon be reduced to rubble as punishment for your refusal to surrender to us!"

Eggman though laughed at him again, saying, "Even now, you don't know who's holding the aces, do you?"

"You will in ten seconds!" The G.U.N Commander shot back.

Once more, Commander Towers attempted to give the order, when Eggman said interrupting, "Well, I guess as long as you don't mind answering to your troops and the citizens of your city for killing the president within my base, go right ahead."

"What?" Commander Towers unfortunately had forgotten that little tidbit from before.

"Behold!" Eggman said loudly. "Your lovely president!"

In that moment, the video footage showed a tied up President to a chair, bound and gagged.

Everyone, including the Commander gasped in disbelief.

"That's right, G.U.N scum!" Eggman said boldly. "I had your so called President apprehended last night, and he's now in my clutches, as leverage."

_I don't believe this. _Kitty thought dumbfounded. _How did he pull this feat off undetected?_

Eggman again let out a hearty laugh, saying, "I guess you're not holding all the aces here after all, Abraham Towers! You should have known I was ready for this all-out attack of yours long ago!'

By this point, Commander Towers was completely beside himself. To have Eggman pull a fast one like this undetected was nothing short of brilliant.

The G.U.N Commander finally spoke up, saying softly with rage, "So… you had Sonic kidnap the President and deliver him to you, eh? I should have expected as much."

Eggman, along with Kitty looked on dumbfounded by this accusation.

"He's in cahoots with you now, isn't he, Doctor?" the Commander interrogated sharply.

At first, Eggman was speechless by this question, but deciding to take advantage of it, he replied after a hesitant chuckle, "Well, uh, yes… he did. That's right. Sonic actually helped me. Talk about a twist, eh, Towers?"

To Kitty's horror, the Commander actually bought Eggman's words, as he said in response, "When I'm done with you, I'll see to it the hedgehog goes to prison for life for this."

Kitty then spoke up loudly, pleading, "Commander, you can't actually believe Sonic would do something like this. After all he's done for the citizens of Central City, it makes no sense."

"Hold your tongue, agent Katswell!" The Commander shouted at her sharply. "I'm in charge here, not you! Nobody tells me what to do and gets away with it! If you dare question my decision making any further, there'll be dire consequences in store for you too. You understand me?"

Kitty was completely crushed inside after hearing him lash out at her unfairly. _I don't believe this. Does he really hate Mobians this much? Why is he acting so harsh towards someone as heroic as Sonic?_

Deep down, Kitty was dumbfounded by the Commander's sudden change in behavior.

_It's almost as if he's on a power trip now, trying to get revenge on Eggman for humiliating him during his Central City raid._

Moments later, Eggman continued his monologue, as he said with banter, "I have to say, Abraham Towers, your leadership abilities are such a work of art. In fact, you really have impressed me by the way you have conducted this war so far."

"Are you mocking me?" the Commander demanded.

"What do you think?" Eggman retorted icily. "But enough of this witty talk. Let's get down to business, shall we?"

Eggman then said firmly, "Let me make myself very clear. Your president's life hangs in the balance as of now, and if you want to save him, you'll do exactly as I say."

Commander Towers though shot back, "Never!"

"If you don't cooperate, Towers, I shall have him shot on camera, for all of your soldiers to see!" Eggman countered.

Everyone gasped in disbelief after hearing this threat, as Eggman added, "Let's see you try and explain that one to your unit, Commander!" Eggman had said his title with complete contempt in his voice.

Again, the G.U.N Commander was speechless inside. Eggman had cornered and he knew it.

Before the Commander could say anything in response to this, Eggman said to him, "Anyway, to show you I'm a good sport, I'll actually give you a chance to beat me."

"Is that a fact?" Commander Towers demanded.

"Oh yes… just one little catch of course."

"And what would that be, Eggman?"

"You send only five our military vehicles to my base at a time to try and get inside." Eggman reiterated. "If you succeed, I'll let you try and rescue your beloved President, if you're brave enough that is."

The Commander then thought it over, as he realized this would indeed be a tough decision.

"Do we have a deal or not, Towers?" Eggman inquired.

Ten seconds later, the G.U.N commander finally relinquished, saying softly, "Very well then."

"I thought you might." Eggman replied with a chuckle.

Eggman then turned off the virtual screen in front of his base that showed the bound up President and said loudly within moments over a loudspeaker, "Let the games begin."

Kitty during this time had a very bad feeling inside. _No way do I see Eggman playing fair here. This is going to get ugly and fast._

The feline agent had no idea how bad it could get, but she was about to find out.

Moments later, the G.U.N Commander sent out five jets from several of his naval battleships to try and blast their way inside. Once they were airborne and on the attack, Eggman said to Decoe and Becoe, "Now! Arm the anti-aircraft missile system!"

"You got it, Doctor."

Decoe then pressed a few buttons from his control panel, instantly activating the counter measures. Within seconds, missile launchers from underground were raised and in place.

As one of the jets attempted to blast a hole into the base with its onboard missiles, Eggman ordered, "Fire!"

Immediately, Decoe pressed a few more buttons, launching over three missiles towards the jets. When Kitty saw this, she knew it would be only the beginning. To no one's surprise, the missiles were clearly aimed to negate G.U.N missile attack.

Indeed she was right, as Eggman's missiles stopped the attack cold in its tracks, hitting them right on target before they could even get close to hitting Eggman's base.

Even Commander Towers was completely dumbfounded by how accurate Eggman's missiles had been.

"Fire again!" the Commander ordered his pilots.

"10-4, sir." They replied.

Another G.U.N pilot then tried to blast a hole in the base with his missiles, but Eggman was ready for it. The minute it came close to hitting its target, which was none other than the main door, Eggman's missiles negated it before it could within twenty feet of its target.

"I don't believe this." The Commander muttered with a groan, looking on with his binoculars in disgust.

Even then, he wouldn't back down, as he ordered them to take another shot at it.

"Sir, the plan isn't working." One of the pilots replied. "We need to change strategies if we're going to succeed."

"Do as I tell you!" The G.U.N Commander ordered loudly in his radio. "You can succeed if you really want to!"

Kitty though knew better, as she watched on with deep concern.

A third G.U.N pilot now took his shot at being a hero. But like the other two, he failed just as miserably. Once again, Eggman's missiles completely took out G.U.N's attack with ease.

Not wanting to upset their Commander the last two pilots with missiles now tried their luck as well.

"We've got to get at least one hit in there." Commander Towers muttered to himself, looking on intently.

However, the same trend continued. The final four missiles shot at Eggman's base were blasted out of the sky before they could even get close to their designated target.

With the five jets now out of missiles, Eggman now aimed his at them.

"Blast them to bits!" the mad doctor ordered his assistants.

"You got it, sir." Decoe replied.

Decoe then pressed a few more buttons, as launched missile after missile at G.U.N's five pilots. At first, the pilots were able to evade and defend themselves, even using their onboard Gatling guns to shoot the missiles.

Unfortunately for them though, this would be short lived. The G.U.N pilots soon found themselves in a huge pickle, as Eggman's assistant soon fired more missiles, this time at a faster rate. It soon got to the place where they could barely evade Eggman's oncoming attack.

Not even a minute into this, Decoe and Becoe finally succeeded, as they blasted all five jets out of the sky almost simultaneously. The G.U.N pilots of course ejected moments before impact, soon floating to the ground below.

As they did so, Decoe asked Eggman, "Shall I cut their parachutes to pieces?"

Surprisingly, Eggman told them, "No. I want the Commander to have a few survivors after I defeat him so they'll completely demoralize his character and question his leadership ability."

"As you wish, sir." Becoe answered.

Moments later, while the G.U.N pilots descended towards the ocean waters below. Commander Towers growled angrily inside, as he couldn't believe Eggman had completely dominated the air attack.

"All right, let's see how that mad man handles my navy ships." He muttered to himself.

The Commander then gave the order, as five ships soon began to make their move.

"Remember, we just want to blast a hole through one of the sides." The Commander reiterated to those onboard the navy battleships. "I don't want to take any chances of injuring the president."

"10-4, sir." The ship admiral replied.

And with that, the G.U.N ships began to attack the base.

Eggman meanwhile saw their next move, commenting to himself, "So, trying to blast through by sea now, eh?"

He then ordered Decoe and Becoe. "Just like before, I want you negate all their oncoming attacks."

"What about blasting the ships out of the water, Doctor?" Decoe inquired. "Wouldn't that be simpler?"

"That'll come later." Eggman replied firmly. "For now, I want to toy with them, making those fools onboard think they might be able to succeed."

Decoe and Becoe didn't fully understand their bosses' instructions, but complied nonetheless.

While was this was going, the ship admiral ordered his crew, "Ready the turret guns."

"Yes, sir." The soldiers replied.

Within seconds, the guns were armed and ready to go. Eggman quickly saw this and then ordered his assistants, "Activate the mounted turret guns within the base!"

Again, Decoe and Becoe replied, as they both pressed the necessary buttons.

Moments later, while the turrets were loading into place, one of the ship captain's ordered, "Fire!"

Instantly, one of the soldiers pressed the button, firing two large turret bullets at Eggman's base from the right side.

Decoe however anticipated its range and timing down perfectly, as he pressed another button several seconds later.

Once again, the G.U.N's attack was completely negated, with both turret bullets colliding head on with each other.

This failure though didn't deter the ship captain in the least, as he ordered within moments, "Fire again!"

"Yes, sir."

The same G.U.N ship then took another shot, firing now four turret bullets at Eggman's base.

But again, Decoe and Becoe were ready for it. Not even one second after G.U.N's attack had been launched; they fired two sets of turret bullets almost simultaneously to counter it. To make matters worse, both attacks were right on target, negating G.U.N's attempt yet again.

By this time, Commander Towers completely frustrated inside. He quickly got on the radio, demanding, "Is that the best you can do?"

"Sir." The captain replied. "We have to be very careful here. If we blast too big of a hole in Eggman's base, his whole building could crumble, thus killing the President inside."

While the G.U.N Commander understood that risk, he ordered nonetheless, "Start attacking more aggressively, but use discretion when doing so!"

"We'll do the best we can, Commander."

Kitty then heard the Commander mutter something under his breath, which she unfortunately only got bits and pieces of it due to being too far away. What he had said was, "Incompetent buffoons. And to think we're supposed to be the mightiest military around here. HA!"

Moments later, the G.U.N ships on each side formed a new strategy.

"We'll have to synchronize our attacks." One of the ship's captains suggested.

"Agreed, but how so?" Another asked.

"Let's all attack within five seconds of other." The first ship captain replied. "That way, we'll have time to stop should we break through."

"Sounds good." The ship commander on the left side said. "Let's do it."

Little did they realize however, Eggman was able to overhear their radio communication with his control panel, making him think with a grin, _Oh, so they're going to try that now are they? Well, won't they be in a surprise._

Eggman then told his assistant of what they were planning, telling them, "Fire within five seconds of each attack. That is the attack pattern they're going for now."

"You got it, Doctor." Becoe replied.

Seconds later, the G.U.N navy ships attempted to put their new plan into action. On their ship captain's order, they immediately fired, launching another four turret bullets, this time at the left side of Eggman's base.

But the second they did, Decoe and Becoe were ready on the trigger, firing four more of their own as well. Within two seconds, their attacks were stopped in their tracks.

This move at first didn't deter the navy G.U.N ships since it had happened before.

"Keep your focus, men. We'll catch them off guard the second time." The ship captain on the right side reiterated.

"That's what you think." Eggman retorted softly to himself with a grin.

Exactly five seconds later, the ships on the right side instantly attacked, firing another four turret bullets.

_We should succeed this time. _One of the ship captains on the right side thought.

That enthusiasm of his however was quickly crushed, as Decoe and Becoe were right there on top of it. Once more, Decoe and Becoe's timing on the trigger finger was near letter perfect. Their turret bullets negated G.U.N's within seconds.

Even Kitty at this time was dumbfounded as she watched. _How in the world did they know when we were going to attack?_

G.U.N's navy captain unfortunately brushed it off with a fluke, saying, "They just got lucky. We'll get them soon enough."

Unfortunately for them, that couldn't be farther from the truth.

After another five seconds passed, the G.U.N navy ships on the left side again attacked, hoping to catch them off guard. But like before, it would not happen. Decoe and Becoe would once again get the timing down perfectly, destroying their turrets in midair.

This soon went on for over a minute, as Kitty by this time knew something was going on. Their counter measures were too good to just be a coincidence.

_Is it possible Eggman intercepted their radio communication? _

Meanwhile, the G.U.N ship captain was fed up with this lack of production, as one said to the others, "This is getting us nowhere!"

"What do you suggest we do then?" another inquired.

"I think we're really going to pull a rabbit out of our hat here in order to blast through." A ship captain on the right side said.

He then told them of his new plan. Their strategy this time was attack randomly, firing at different seconds apart. Their attack pattern would be this: five, seven nine, seven, nine, five, seven, seven, five.

Kitty had overheard the radio communications this time, as she tuned into the frequency with high tech G.U.N radio receiver on her right ear.

_Maybe this will give them a better chance to surprise attack. _Kitty thought. _I hope…_

Deep down though, she was still wondering if Eggman was able to intercept their radio communication.

As before, he was indeed, making him chuckle even more this time to himself after he listened in. _So, trying to pull a fast one on me, eh? Well, nobody catches this mad scientist off guard._

Seconds later, G.U.N's navy ships put the plan into action. During that time, Eggman relayed the order of attack patterns to his two assistants.

"Follow this pattern to the T." Eggman ordered firmly. "They'll be too stubborn to change it up."

"You can count on us, Doctor." Decoe replied.

Not even two seconds later, G.U.N's navy troops put the plan into action, as the ships on the left attacked the base at exactly the precise moment.

As expected, the first attack was negated, since it was the same attack pattern as before. Again, G.U.N's ship commanders weren't dampened at all by this block.

_We'll get Eggman for sure this time. _A ship captain on the right side thought to himself with grin.

Seven seconds after the first attack was negated, the navy ships from the right side instantly attacked, firing six turret bullets at the base. This time, they were confident Eggman's counter measures would be a little off.

However, they were all floored, as not only were they not off in the least, but directly on target like before.

The G.U.N Commander on the sidelines meanwhile looked on completely perplexed inside, as he too knew about their attack patterns.

_Impossible! How did they know we were going to attack exactly seven seconds later?_

Kitty though was becoming more and more convinced what was really going on.

_Eggman must have intercepted the radio communications. But how?_

The G.U.N ship captains during this time brushed it off as another fluke, saying, "Eggman just got lucky again. We'll nail soon him enough."

"Keep dreaming, G.U.N scum." Eggman again retorted softly to himself.

Nine seconds after the recent attack, G.U.N's ships on the left side took another swing at blasting a hole into the base. They thought for sure this time it couldn't fail.

But unfortunately, it would fail miserably yet again. Eggman's assistants continued to counter their attacks with relative ease, as they had the number system down to memory.

By this time, the morale on the G.U.N navy ships was beginning to crumble. Even the ship's captains noticed it. Nonetheless, they said to their men, "Keep the fight up, men. It's only a matter of time before we break through."

Those words sadly would soon become very hollow, as another two minutes passed, with the exact same results each time… Failure.

Kitty was now fully convinced what was happening. _There's no doubt about it. Eggman knows what they're going to do before they even strike._

The G.U.N commander meanwhile could no longer keep his composure. He was completely enraged by the lack of production by his troops.

"How is that slime bucket able to decipher our attack pattern?" Commander Towers demanded, gritting his teeth.

Kitty finally got enough courage and spoke up, saying, "Commander, may I make a suggestion?"

Commander Towers sighed heavily, but reluctantly complied, replying, "Yes?"

"Sir, I think Eggman has intercepted our radio frequency." Kitty suggested.

"What? That's preposterous!" The G.U.N Commander retorted firmly. "We have a secure channel that only our personnel can access."

"I'm aware of that, Commander." Kitty reiterated. "But that's the only logical explanation. I believe he has superior technology to ours and using it to his advantage."

Being prideful and stubborn, the Commander told her sharply. "Absurd! Nobody has better technology than us, agent Katswell. Don't you forget that."

"But, sir…"

"Enough already!" he shouted, pointing a finger at her. "Your orders are to stand by and be right to fight if called to battle, and I expect you to keep your nose out of the rest of it. Do I make myself clear?"

The Commander's sharp words again hurt Kitty emotionally, but deciding to not make it any worse, she replied with a deep sigh, "As you wish, sir."

While the Commander turned away from her in a huff to keep an eye on the battle, Kitty thought to herself with frustration, _He's going to cost us this battle if he doesn't get his head out of the clouds. _

Kitty was also beginning to wonder if being a G.U.N agent was it was originally cracked up to be.

_I sacrificed so much, just to work for someone who's nothing but a big blowhard with a huge ego. What I was thinking?_

In spite of these negative thoughts, Kitty wasn't about to quit trying to make it work.

_I have to keep plugging away and do my best here. After all, I promised Sonic and his friends I would help them defeat Eggman. How can I even go back on my word to them now?_

While this was going on, Eggman finally grew tired of toying with G.U.N's naval ships, as he ordered Decoe and Becoe, "We've wasted enough time with these amateurs. Blast them out of the water!"

"Yes, sir, Doctor Eggman." Decoe replied.

Within moments, they activated the missiles again, this time pointing them directly at their metal battleships. To make the situation even better for Eggman, the G.U.N commander was in the process of arguing with the ship's naval captains.

"Prepare to fire at them again!" Commander Towers ordered over his radio.

"Sir, this strategy isn't working." One of the captain's replied. "We need to change it up in order to have a shot at getting inside."

"Don't argue with me!" Towers shot back angrily. "Just do it as I tell you!"

The ship captain however wouldn't back down, as he replied again, this time annoyed "You don't seem to get it, Commander. Eggman has our number. It's completely futile to…"

Just then, a huge explosion blasted a right side of one of the ships, the same one the captain was on, instantly interfering with the communication. Every solider, including Commander Towers turned to look, as their facial expressions soon changed from perplexion to deep horror.

Even Kitty was shocked by how fast Eggman had changed strategies. Within seconds, Eggman's missile attack had caused the ship to begin sinking rapidly.

"We're under attack!" the ship captain shouted in a panic. "Send…"

He unfortunately would not be able to get another word out, as another two missiles came flying in, hitting the left side, as well as the middle part from above. This caused the ship to break into two, where it now instantly sank to the bottom.

To make matters worse for G.U.N, dozens of soldiers onboard were killed instantly from the third explosion.

_No! This cannot be happening to us! _Commander Towers thought in a sweat.

But indeed it was. Before he could even gather his composure, Decoe and Becoe sent another barrage of missiles at the remaining four G.U.N ships near the island, blasting them to bits as well within seconds.

Due to a temporary cease fire thanks to G.U.N's navy morale dropping, they had no chance to react, as they too soon met the same fate as the first ship.

Those who were at a distance could only watch helplessly, as their comrades whom Eggman had specifically targeted were almost completely wiped out.

Eggman on the other hand couldn't be happier while he watched from his control room. He quickly raised his hands with glee, shouting victoriously, "Yes! Yes! Yes! That's more like it!'

By now, the entire morale of G.U.N was near zero. Hardly anybody onboard the remaining navy ships had any courage left in them to fight anymore at this point.

Nonetheless, Commander Towers had still too much pride to change strategies, or surrender for that matter.

_I'll beat that vile Eggman if it's the last thing I do! _

Moments later, he called for the ground forces. Once he had their attention, he told them firmly, "It's your turn to get it done, men. The president's counting on us. Don't let him down."

"Sir," One G.U.N solider said, speaking up. "You don't honestly think just five of us could break through do you?"

"Yes I do!" he retorted sharply, pointing his finger at the solider who had talked. "You are supposed to be my elite fighting force, so it's time you earned that name!"

"How are we supposed to succeed when not even the Navy or Air Force of ours could do anything?" Another argued. "Let's face it; Eggman's got us in a huge pickle."

"Don't you dare talk like that, solider!" The Commander roared at him. "There is no place for cowards within this group! Now go out there and get it done!"

Deciding to not risk being labeled cowards, five G.U.N soldiers quickly boarded five tanks nearby and quickly drove them towards the edge of the navy ship they were currently on.

Eggman meanwhile saw what G.U.N was doing now through his cameras, making him chuckle to himself.

"Is G.U.N actually thinking of sending just one navy battleship near my island to try and blast a hole into my base with five tanks at a time? What fools!"

Decoe and Becoe then spoke up, asking him, "Sir, shall we toy with them again?"

Eggman surprised the two robotic assistants, as he replied, "No. Not this time."

Decoe and Becoe looked at each other puzzled, as Eggman added, "Since G.U.N has a lot of tanks on that navy ship, I want you to personally blast every single one of them to little pieces."

"Uh, sure thing, Doctor." Becoe said hesitantly.

Not even two seconds after he had said that, G.U.N's tanks quickly began to fire at Eggman's base, hoping to break a hole near the bottom of it with its shells.

However, this move would end in dire futility. The second the tanks began to open fire, Eggman's assistant quickly reacted to it, as they shot missile after missile towards them. The first thing they aimed for though was the shells in order to negate their potential impact. Once they were taken down, the missiles began to rain down on the tanks in a fury.

Within seconds, those controlling the tanks saw the missiles coming for them, but it was too little, too late for them. The missiles made direct contact near the lid of where the solider entered it, exploding violently on contact, killing those inside instantly

Those watching from a distance who happened to see this were completely horrified, as well as sickened inside. The aftermath was nothing short of a gory mess, as a pile of metal debris, smoke and flames were the only thing left.

Even Kitty couldn't help but tear up a bit at this point. The battle was quickly turning into a slaughter house.

Nonetheless, the G.U.N Commander even then wouldn't back down. He quickly ordered another five onboard the same ship to try and get the job done.

To no one's surprise, they heavily protested. But again, Commander Towers threatened heavy penalties if they wouldn't cooperate. So, in order to save their pride within this group, they did as they were told.

However, the mood within the soldiers was one of deep panic now. They felt the battle was lost as long as Eggman had the President in his clutches.

Seconds later, once they were lined up, the five G.U.N soldiers gave it another go.

But again, they would meet the same fate as the previous five… death.

Not even five seconds after they had attempted to blast through, over five missiles came flying in with speed and fury. And again, there was nothing they could do to evade. Due to being in a big, slow tank, they too would join those who had been KIA earlier

Commander Towers at this point began to feel the sting of apparent defeat. Once he tried to order another five to attack from the edge of shore, most of them shook their heads and refused. Even when he threatened them further, it made little difference. In fact, about 10% of the troops ran inside the ship's main quarters. They didn't care about the fact of being punished for disobeying orders at this point. As far as they were concerned, they felt like nothing more than cannon fodder now for Eggman, so what was the point?

The Commander of course yelled at them to return, but got no response.

Kitty at this point could sense Commander Towers was on the verge of a complete meltdown emotionally, as he couldn't believe how ugly this battle had turned. The fact he had troops abandon him only enhanced this.

Fortunately though, he managed to get another five were still brave enough to give it a shot, as they soon got into tanks and headed for the same spot, yet again.

Eggman by this time couldn't help but laugh heartily inside, as he could tell G.U.N's conquest was sinking, and fast.

Once they lined up again to try and fire for a third time, Decoe and Becoe quickly pounced. This time, in order to send a message, they fired ten missiles, two for each tank.

Kitty at first was baffled by this move as she watched from a distance. However, once the missiles began to come closer, she instantly figured it out. Within seconds, metal debris went flying everywhere.

Thankfully though, most of the soldiers onboard that ship weren't. However, some others on the other hand wasn't so lucky, as they ended up with serious injuries due to being hit by flying debris.

Even though the Commander wasn't hurt physically at all, his pride though was seriously taking a beating as of late. To see another five slaughtered was really starting to humble him.

A G.U.N solider next to him, spoke up, saying very aggressively, but still respectfully, "Sir, we're accomplishing nothing out here. We must change strategies if we're going to have any form of success."

Finally, Commander Towers swallowed his pride and said while nodding his head softly, "All right then, I have an idea…"

Deciding to throw a huge curveball at Eggman, the G.U.N commander decided to split up his forces this time, using two jets on one ship, one navy battleship, and two more tanks on another ship as well to try and get the job done.

"All right, men." The Commander ordered loudly. "Attack!"

And attack they did. However, Eggman was not the least bit concerned with this new strategy of G.U.N's. He again chuckled to himself, saying, "So, the Commander finally got his heads out of the clouds, eh? Too bad it won't do him a bit of good now."

Since G.U.N could only send five at a time, Eggman clearly had the advantage.

Even Kitty knew this.

Moments later, G.U.N put their new plan into the action.

Eggman though was well prepared for this kind of strategy, as he said to his assistants over the radio, "Take out the navy ship's turret guns first, followed by the tanks, and then the jets."

"You sure that's a smart idea?" Becoe inquired puzzled.

"Have you morons forgotten already whose tactics have been winning this battle?" Eggman shot back.

"Well, I, uh… er."

"Do as I say if you know what's good for you!"

Not wanting to upset their boss any further, they did as they were told.

While this was going on, G.U.N's three ships that were sent out were on the verge of striking. Their plan of attack would be this. The lone navy battleship would try and blast a hole into the lower right side while the tanks would aim for the lower middle a few seconds later. And if those two failed, the G.U.N pilots would aim for the lower left side of the base a few seconds after that.

Unfortunately for them though, Eggman's tactics would turn out to be one step ahead of them yet again. The second the navy ship went to fire, Eggman's assistants quickly beat them to the punch, sending a missile directly at their main turret guns, instantly blasting them to bits on contact.

Then, not even two seconds later, Decoe and Becoe sent missiles for the tanks near the shore. Again, the tanks, along with its drivers inside were instantly annihilated to pieces.

Kitty was completely dumbfounded by how fast Eggman had dealt with three of them.

But Eggman still wasn't done yet. Several seconds later, Decoe and Becoe finished off all three navy ships, blasting a big hole each in their right sides, making it sink quickly to the ocean floor.

"How is he doing this to G.U.N with so speed and fury?" Topaz pondered out loud. "It's like he knows our every move."

"I don't know…" Kitty replied softly. "But this battle is no doubt getting uglier by the second."

That sadly, was a huge understatement on the feline agent's part.

With only two G.U.N jets left, the pilots inside of them decided to split up and try and attack both sides of the base simultaneously within five seconds of each other.

However, Eggman could sense what they were up to while watching via camera in his control room. He then said to his two assistants, "Unleash the secret weapons."

"The secret weapons? Are you sure it's time to use them? Becoe inquired. "We only have twenty five of them."

"I know what I'm doing!" Eggman roared. "Now do it!"

The secret weapon was none other than heat seeking missiles.

Decoe and Becoe again quickly complied, as they pressed the button to activate them into place.

While this was going on, the G.U.N pilots were only seconds away from attacking.

"On my signal." One pilot said to other over the radio, "you take the left side while I take the right. You got it?"

"10-4." The other replied.

Unfortunately for them though, they never got the chance. Exactly one second before the G.U.N pilot could give the signal, Eggman's assistant quickly launched two heat seeking missiles at the jets.

"Missiles incoming!" the second pilot shouted to the first. "Take evasive action, now!"

Due to being experienced pilots, they easily evaded the missiles sent at them, flying higher into the air to avoid them.

"Whew, that was close one." The first pilot commented. "Now to… what the…?"

The second pilot quickly saw it too, making him almost do a double take.

Kitty, who happened to be watching from the sidelines, was equally dumbfounded as well, seeing the missiles actually change direction and chase after the jets again.

_How is that possible? Are those…?_

Instantly, it hit her. _Those are heat seeking missiles! _

The G.U.N pilots meanwhile tried their best to evade the missiles each time they came close, but it was becoming futile. Eventually, their luck ran out, as the missiles made contact with the under part of the jet, exploding violently on contact.

Thankfully though, the pilots were smart enough to know when to eject, as they pressed the button exactly one split second before impact.

Again, the G.U.N commander gritted his teeth in anger while watching them parachute to the ground below. His new diverse strategy had been taken down in less than a minute.

"How on earth did Eggman get those missiles to lock on to those jets?" he pondered out loud.

Kitty took a chance, as she told him firmly, "Sir, Eggman must be using heat seeking missiles."

"What? That's ridiculous!" He replied annoyed. "How could a mad man like that get a hold of such vast technology?"

"Commander." Kitty said respectfully. "I don't think it would be wise to send out anymore jets for the time being."

"Are you actually trying to tell me what to do again, agent Katswell?" he demanded, now glaring at her.

"Of course not, sir." Kitty replied respectfully. "But since we don't know how many heat seeking missiles he has on him, any you send out will more than likely be blasted to bits."

Unfortunately for Kitty though, the Commander again blew her off harshly, saying, "You just mind your own business. I know what I'm doing here."

Kitty by this point was extremely frustrated inside, as she thought with a frown on her face, _No, you don't. Eggman is pounding you big time, and you're too stubborn to see that. If you would only get it through your thick skull that Sonic and I could do a lot of damage against Eggman if given the chance._

Not surprisingly, the Commander again sent out jets to attack, this time three of them with two tanks. Also not surprisingly, the pilots were very wary about the fact they didn't know whether or not those missiles of Eggman's would show up again. Nonetheless, they prepared to fight.

Seeing another five sent out by this time finally was wearing Eggman's patience, as he was now bored.

"This battle is really becoming a snore fest." He commented with a frown. "I mean, they're not even putting that much of a fight at all."

"Sir, what do you suggest we do then?" Decoe inquired.

Deciding to just end it quickly, he ordered his assistant, "Toast them all, and do it as fast you can."

"You got it, Doctor." Becoe replied.

As before, Eggman's countermeasures easily manhandled G.U.N's team of five. Within seconds, the tanks were again taken out by two missiles.

Once they were taken out, three more heat seeking missiles were sent towards the jets, putting the pilots on edge as they saw it heading towards them.

Like before, they evaded them with ease once they came towards the jets, but also like last time, the missiles changed direction, causing each pilot to slightly panic inside.

The three G.U.N pilots were able to evade them for no more than ten seconds, as Eggman's secret weapon again honed in their aircrafts, finally making contact with the metal area underneath.

Once it did, it was déjà vu all over again. The jets instantly exploded violently on contact, spreading metal debris everywhere with fire and smoke bellowing out.

Like the previous two pilots, they were able to eject to safety without injury. Nonetheless, the continued failures of being able to break inside began to wear down the confidence of the G.U.N army down to the point of despair.

Even the G.U.N Commander was at a loss for words, as this new strategy was completely being dominated by Eggman's.

However, still being too prideful inside, Commander Towers pressed on, ordering his troops to keep up the fight.

That unfortunately was easier said than done, as most of G.U.N's soldiers by now were anything but optimistic at this point. However, since they didn't want to look like cowards, they did as they were told.

"We've got to keep trying." Commander Towers said to himself. "Sooner or later, I know we can break inside and rescue the President."

Again, his words would prove to be nothing less than hollow, as that would not happen at all, not even in the least.

Instead, the G.U.N Commander witnessed solider after solider, aircraft after aircraft, even tank after tank getting annihilated, one right after the other. Even when they tried to use the more versatile walkers, such as the F-6 Big Foot, B-3x Hot Shot and R-1/A Flying Dog to try and outmaneuver Eggman's iron grip on the battle, it was to no avail. They too met with the same fate… complete disaster.

Before Commander Towers knew it, almost 65% of his troops and war machines had been wiped out. To make matters worse, it was all the G.U.N Commander could do to not look at his troops, as they were all disgusted by the complete incompetence of leading this battle, giving him dirty looks.

Eggman, wanting to send a stern message for their continued stubbornness, fired one large missile, this time directly at the main navy ship the G.U.N Commander and Kitty was standing on.

Within seconds, Kitty quickly figured out what was going on while looking at the sky, as she yelled out loud, "Take cover, everyone!"

Thankfully, Topaz listened to her this time, as did most of the troops as well. Even the G.U.N Commander did too, as they instantly ran away from missiles' range.

Unfortunately though, some of the G.U.N's soldiers did not heed her warning in time, and paid a heavy price for it, as the missiles vaporized them on contact once it hit the ground. The navy ship also took heavy damage in the process, putting larges cracks in the interior it hit.

Kitty, along with Topaz had dived of out of harm's way once the blast hit. However, once they saw the aftermath, it was all they could to do to say composed. More than seventy soldiers were killed from Eggman's latest attack.

Kitty then looked to her right where Sonic was being kept in a chopper. Thankfully though, the chopper wasn't directly hit, but was rocked really strong though, ending up turned over on its right side.

Moments later, Eggman turned on his virtual screen again, as he taunted them once more.

"I think this pathetic battle of ours has gone on far enough." He said to them firmly. "It's obvious you can't beat me, so why do you even bother to keep trying?"

By this point, the G.U.N Commander was starting to concede to the fact that perhaps beating Eggman was indeed a lost cause.

Eggman then spoke up and added, "However, I'll give you one last chance to try and get in and save your precious President. Should you fail however, he will be executed on sight for all of you to see."

Hearing this threat deeply alarmed everyone, as hardly any of them knew what to do.

"The choice is yours." Eggman told them firmly. "Do you surrender, or do you risk one more group of soldiers and the President's life too? You have exactly five minutes to decide!"

Commander Towers was completely torn inside. He knew it was futile to send another group, since everyone he had sent either was killed or barely escaped with their lives.

As he thought it over, Kitty finally saw her chance. She then ran towards him and said, "Commander, let me make a suggestion."

"Haven't you butted in enough already?" He shot back angrily.

Kitty though ignored his jab, as she said, "Allow me to be one of the five to go after him now."

"What? Are you crazy?" he demanded. "What makes you think you can do any better?"

"Maybe not alone," the feline agent reiterated. "But with Sonic and his friends helping out, we can break in. I know we can."

Not surprisingly, Commander Towers still wanted no part of Sonic and help group to help out. "I will not have those meddling Mobians coming in here and make us look bad." He told her sharply. "It's our job to keep our world safe, not theirs."

Kitty however persisted, as she argued, "Sir, with all due respect, we have been getting our butts completely kicked by Eggman. What harm could it possibly do to allow them to try?"

"Because if I do, they'll put us out of a job!" Commander Towers retorted loudly. "Don't you see, agent Katswell? If this keeps up, the President will eventually make them his personal protectors instead of us, and I cannot have that happen."

"The President's life is at stake though." Kitty argued again. "Don't you think you should swallow your pride on this and just do what's best for once?"

Commander Towers was completely incensed by her comment, as he lashed back, "Have you forgotten Sonic conspired with Eggman to kidnap the President? Are you going to overlook that important detail just because you are one of them?"

"Sonic didn't kidnap him, Commander." Kitty protested. "Do you honestly think he would do that with his reputation of being a hero on the line?"

"What difference does that make?" he retorted. "All I know is, he can't be trusted, so stop trying to change my mind about this."

Before Kitty could argue this further, Eggman again appeared on screen, now with only less than three minutes left. He then said with a chuckle, "I have to say, Commander, your stupidity is completely hilarious by now. By not allowing agent Katswell or that meddling hedgehog to come after me, you just about handed victory over to my empire without so much as breaking a sweat. I thank you kindly for that."

Commander Towers glared at him with deep rage, as Eggman continued, "How you ever became leader of this group is a mystery to me. It's obvious you're a completely incompetent moron when it comes to decision making."

The G.U.N commander though lashed back at Eggman, retorting, "You don't fool me, you mad man! You just want Sonic there in order to fortify your army."

Still wanting to play up these fake accusations of his, Eggman replied, "So what if I do? It's not my fault he's a double agent."

Before Commander Towers could respond, Eggman changed the screen to the President, who was still bound and gagged. Eggman then said to them, "Anyway, if you want to save this big leader of yours, you better make up your mind and soon. Time's running out."

Kitty again tried to plead with Commander Towers, "Just give us a shot, sir. Isn't saving the President's life the most important thing now anyway?"

"I will not have that double crossing hedgehog involved in this war." Commander Towers told her sharply with fierce glare. "He'll only make things worse!"

"Sir, is that the only reason you don't want Sonic in the battle, or is there another reason you're not telling me?" Kitty inquired with a frown.

"I already told you my reasons." He replied angrily. "Why do you keep hounding me about this? Do you care at all about your job here?"

"I care about doing the right thing," Kitty told him firmly. "And that's getting Sonic and his friends involved so we can defeat Eggman and save the President."

"No way." Commander towers answered in a much harsher tone. "My decision is final about this, so be quiet already!"

Kitty though wouldn't anymore, as she told him with deep disappointment in her eyes, "You really do hate Mobians, don't you?"

Commander Towers almost became completely unglued about this accusation of hers, as she added, "I'm really saddened by your conduct, sir. I thought you were someone who had more class than this. I guess I was wrong about you."

"How dare you talk to me this way!" he shouted at her. "Why, I ought to have you court marshaled this instant!"

Kitty however wasn't concerned about this at all; as she could sense from their body language that the G.U.N troops were actually beginning to side with her over him. She then told the Commander firmly again, "If you're not going to give the ok to this, then I'm going do it without your permission."

"You wouldn't dare." He challenged.

"Just try me." Kitty shot back. "I've tried being respectful to you and pleading without pushing things, but it's obvious to me you won't listen. So I'm going to take matters into my hands now, and if you want to fire me for it, go right ahead."

The G.U.N Commander was speechless by this dare of hers at first, but said to his troops as she walked away to get Sonic, "Detain her, now!"

Not surprisingly, they wouldn't listen to him anymore, as the soldiers shook their heads at him, completely perplexing him.

"You dare refuse your Commander?" He roared. "Maybe I should have you all arrested as well!"

But again, they wouldn't budge. Not even the court marshals there did either.

Kitty then spoke up and said after a five second pause with anger and disappointment on her face, "Do you see what you've done here, sir? Because you chose to follow your pride instead of your heart, your troops here no longer believe in you. I hope you're happy."

Commander Towers still wouldn't back down, as he said to them all loudly, "Are you actually going to listen to this feline instead of the one who's led you for years? What's the matter with you?"

"Agent Katswell is right, sir." Topaz said, finally speaking up. "It's time to let Sonic and his friends take a shot at it now. Since we've been failing miserably, what other options do we have?"

Just about every G.U.N solider there nodded their heads in agreement.

However, the G.U.N Commander still wouldn't agree to this, as he shouted loudly, "You're all fools! You're going to let someone who kidnapped our very President go after Eggman? Don't you realize that he's going to make things worse for us if we allow him to roam free?"

Unfortunately for Kitty now, the G.U.N troops had forgotten about this little tidbit, causing a split between whether or not Sonic could be trusted.

"You know Sonic didn't kidnap the President." Kitty argued back. "You're just using that to cover up for the fact you hate him and his kind."

This argument of Kitty's however caused some of G.U.N's troops who were on the Commander's side to be convinced maybe Sonic could be trusted after all. Most of them however still kept their same decision from before.

By this time, there were less than seventy five seconds left on the timer.

"I'm telling you," The Commander reiterated very loudly. "Sonic kidnapped the President! If you want to risk our beloved leader's life with this hooligan, you are…"

Just then, a voice out of nowhere spoke up, shouting towards them, "Enough of this arguing already! Sonic did not kidnap me!"

Hearing this completely startled everyone on shore, as they turned around, and saw it was none other than the President himself, who by now had chewed through his mouth gag.

"Mr. President?"

"Commander, I heard everything you said about Sonic, and I'm very displeased with you about it." The President told him with a frown.

"But, it was reported that a blue spiny hedgehog kidnapped you, sir." Commander Towers protested.

"That wasn't Sonic." The President replied firmly. "It was Eggman's robot."

_Eggman's robot? _Kitty then pondered this over, thinking to herself, _that explains everything now… Eggman must have built a robotic duplicate and sent it towards his home. It was a two for one shot. The President is used as leverage and Sonic ends up as the fall guy._

The President then continued, ordering his general, "Commander, I am ordering you to let Sonic help me out and defeat…"

Eggman finally cut the feed on the President's audio in the room, as he said hesitantly, "Pay no attention to that tied up ruler of yours. After all, you were right in the first place, Commander. Sonic did kidnap him, so no point in changing your mind about that."

Moments later, Eggman demanded, "Have you made your decision yet? Are you going to surrender, or do you dare to take one more shot at freeing your precious leader?"

Commander Towers quickly replied firmly, "I'm going to take your offer of one last chance."

"Oh, that's splendid!" Eggman said with glee, clapping his hands together. "I was hoping you'd be stubborn enough to give it another shot."

He then asked the G.U.N Commander, "So, tell me… what five are you going to send for my final group of target practice?"

Commander Towers' response deeply alarmed Eggman, as he answered him. "I'm sending my best after you time, Eggman, none other than Agent Katswell, Sonic, and his friends."

"You what?" Eggman was deeply alarmed by this, as he asked, "Now why would send them since they're not nearly as qualified as your other G.U.N troops?"

"Because I'm going to swallow my pride this time, like I should have done in the first place and have them take you on." The G.U.N Commander replied firmly. Commander Towers then gave Kitty a nod of approval, making her smile at him in response.

Seeing he was dead serious about this, Eggman let out a huff, saying, "So be it! Let them dare try and stop me! They'll do no better than the rest of your G.U.N scum when it's all said and done!"

With the Commander backing her up now, Kitty ran over to Sonic, who was sitting near the overturned chopper while being guarded by G.U.N troops. She then said to him, "Let's go, Sonic. It's our turn to take on Eggman now."

"About time." He muttered while crossing his arms together.

While Sonic was being freed of his cuffs, Kitty then locked onto the X-Tornado's frequency with her radio headset, saying to Tails, "Get ready to fly, Tails. We'll be going after Eggman very shortly."

"All right!" he replied with excitement. "I'll have the engines fired up right away."

With that settled, there was only one question left… Who would the last two to help her out? That question however would soon be settled, as Topaz and Rouge both walked towards Kitty, with Topaz saying, "Allow us to join you on this mission."

"You sure you want to risk your life?" Kitty asked Topaz. "This could be very dangerous, you know?"

Topaz immediately nodded her head, replying, "I'm aware of the risks, but I must do this. How else could I honor my late fiancé's memory if I don't give it my all to see Eggman's downfall?"

After hearing this, Kitty didn't try to talk her out of it any longer. She then looked at Rouge and asked with a bit of suspicion, "And why do you want to help me out?"

"Well, since you're going to take a big risk here, I might as well show you how to do it right." Rouge retorted with a smirk.

"This isn't fun and games you know." Kitty told her firmly.

"Oh, believe me; I'm fully aware of that, more than you know." Rouge replied icily.

Kitty didn't know what to think of that, but decided to overlook it for now, as she, along with Rouge and Topaz soon joined hands with Kitty saying, "Let's show Eggman whose boss, girls."

Topaz and Rouge quickly chanted in response, "Hear, hear.", as the three of them were united now.

Moments later, Kitty went to go pick her choice of vehicle to fight with. Due to Eggman's base being surrounded by the ocean, she decided to pick the most versatile one.

Since the G.U.N walkers happened to be the best choice, Kitty picked it, eventually trying to decide whether or not to use the F-6t Big Foot, or the B-3x Hot Shot.

Topaz soon walked nearby, with Kitty asking her, "Which one do you think would be the best fit for me?"

"Personally, I'd go with B-3x Hot Shot." Topaz replied. "It has a plasma beam cannon built into it instead of a gatling gun."

That was all Kitty needed to hear, as she quickly grabbed her gear and climbed inside of it.

Since that was the last one G.U.N had unscathed, Topaz chose F-6t Big Foot instead for her battle vehicle. Even though Topaz had very little experience in piloting one of these walkers, she decided to take a chance with it anyway, especially since the other vehicle choices were either too risky or not to her skill level.

Once the walkers were lined up side by side, Rouge quickly flew next to them on the right, getting ready to go.

Eggman meanwhile saw what he was up against, making him somewhat concerned, but didn't show it, as he said bantering over his virtual screen, "So, you could only find three to go up against me? Ha! Too bad for you!"

Eggman though instantly regretted those words, as Tails came swooping in, landing his X-Tornado with its mecha feet on the far right side with Sonic on top of it. Seeing this caused him to panic a little inside.

Kitty quickly opened her hatch, retorting with a grin, "You were saying, Doctor?"

Eggman though kept his resolve, saying with a growl while pointing his finger from his right hand at them, "It don't matter to me how formidable you look, you're all still going to annihilated when it's all said and done!"

"We shall see about that, Eggbelly." Sonic shot back. "It's time you finally you fought a true opponent out here."

Eggman then said to his two assistants over the intercom after shutting off his virtual screen, "I don't care what you have to do, but you better fire everything weapon we have here at them as fast as you can! You understand me?"

"Can do, sir." Becoe replied.

"So who is our primary target of these formidable five?" Decoe inquired

While Eggman was tempted to pick Kitty, he knew deep down it would cost him dearly in the long run if he did. So, he said in a no brainer answer, "Focus over 40% of our weapons at Sonic. Once he's taken out, the others will be a cinch to beat!"

"Yes, sir, Doctor Eggman." Decoe answered with a salute.

Meanwhile, Kitty glanced at Sonic and said to him, "We'll need you to be the rabbit for us and keep Eggman and his buffoons busy until we all can get nearby the main door. Can you manage that?"

"No prob." Sonic replied with a sly grin. "Just leave it to me."

Seconds later, Tails stepped out of the X-Tornado and ran over to Kitty, saying, "Hold on a sec."

Kitty looked at him and intently and asked, "Yes?"

Tails then handed her a small item and replied, "If we have any trouble communicating with each other, attach this chip to your radio earpiece headset. It should eliminate any interference that may come with ease."

Kitty quickly took the chip and placed it in her pocket, saying soon afterwards to the two tailed fox, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." He answered, smiling at her.

Once Tails was back in the cockpit and the X-Tornado's canopy was shut, the feline agent asked everyone while psyched up, "All right, you ready to do this?"

"Born ready." Sonic again answered, getting his feet firmly on top of the X-Tornado.

Kitty then locked the canopy on her walker into place and shouted after igniting the engines, "Let's do it to it, guys!"

And with those words, the battle was on.

Kitty and Topaz quickly activated the hover engines and flew towards the base at top speed. Rouge did likewise, using her wings to fly high into the air. Tails soon did likewise, as he soon accelerated the X-Tornado to top speed as well.

Within seconds, Decoe and Becoe instantly responded, as they launched missile after missiles after them as fast they could be released.

As they continued to come closer, Kitty told Topaz over the radio, "Get ready to use the counter weapons on my signal."

Topaz at first didn't where they were, but thankfully did seconds later, as Kitty soon shouted, "Now!"

Kitty then hit the button to activate plasma beam cannon on her vehicle, aiming it at the oncoming missiles. Topaz meanwhile was still struggling to aim the Gatling gun on her machine, but eventually figured it out, as she and Kitty were able to blast missile after missiles in midair before they could even get close to hitting either one of them.

While this was going on, Tails flew overhead in the X-Tornado, as he would be the eye in the sky. He then said to Sonic, "Get ready to let go on the count of the three."

As soon as he hit three, Tails turned the X-Tornado upside down. Sonic meanwhile let go and began to spin into a ball towards the shore near Eggman's base. Again, he softly landed to the ground below without a scratch.

Amy during this time watched intently, as she said to herself softly with deep concern in her voice, "Be careful, my love."

It was all the pink hedgehog could from not jumping out herself, as Amy wanted to fight alongside her true blue during this conquest, but knew it was for the best since she realized it was too dangerous on foot.

Nonetheless, she would do as she could to help out. Amy then told Tails, "Keep an eye on my Sonikku for me, will you? He's the most vulnerable out there."

"Don't forget Rouge is without any protection either." Tails reiterated.

"Well, yea… but she can fly out of harm's way if necessary." Amy replied firmly.

"And Sonic can run at the speed of sound to evade any attack that comes near him." He retorted to her with a sly grin. "What's the difference really?"

"Good point…" Amy muttered softly to herself with a sigh.

Speaking of Rouge, she seemed to be having the least trouble of any of the five, using her flying ability to soar overhead, evading any missiles that came at her with ease.

That's not to say she didn't have her hands full at times. Wanting to put on a good show for Kitty and Sonic, she and Eggman acted out their roles to near perfection.

"Do your best to try and attack Rouge without actually coming close to hitting her." Eggman told his two assistants earlier. "I need that bat alive for the time being."

"Yes, sir, Doctor Eggman." Becoe replied.

Meanwhile, with Sonic now on shore, he quickly blasted off towards the mad doctor's base, as he would carry out his role as the lead rabbit to help his friends get across.

Seeing Sonic already on his island base, Eggman shouted at his two assistants infuriated, "Get him, get him now!"

"But didn't you want him alive too until he fell into your trap?" Decoe asked perplexed.

"Of course I do, you dingbot!" Eggman reiterated firmly. But I'm not going to make it easy for him to get inside either. I want to tire him out by the time he finds my little surprise."

Decoe and Becoe instantly complied after that, as they fired missile after missile at Sonic as fast they press the button, even firing four times as many compared to the others.

To no one's surprise though, Sonic easily increased his speed when the attacks came near the blue hedgehog, completely missing them by over a foot apiece.

Sonic then said to himself, "Ok, time to play ring around the island." His plan was to run around the island in circles, keeping them preoccupied as long as possible.

While this was going on, Kitty and Topaz continued to fly closer to the island every second in their G.U.N walkers. But with it over three hundred yards from where they launched, each step closer was getting more and more dicey. In spite of the fact Sonic was main target, Kitty and Topaz still had plenty of missiles to deal with on their own during their flight.

Even Kitty had to admit piloting her machine was more of a challenge than she ever realized. Nonetheless, she pressed on with firm, vigor, saying to Topaz on her radio, "Keep your eyes open. No telling when Eggman will send us some surprise attack from an unknown location."

"Will do." Topaz replied.

Seconds later, Kitty saw another batch of missiles heading towards them with speed and fury, making her say with a deep sigh, "Here we go again."

Tails also had his share of attacks to deal with while piloting the X-Tornado. Eggman was just as determined to blast him out of the sky as the rest.

After he did a barrel roll and a complete loop to evade a few missiles, he said to Amy, "Let me know if any attacks come at us from the rear. I'm going to need full concentration of the front for the time being."

Amy quickly nodded her head, as she did just that. Nonetheless, that turned out to be easier said than done for her since she couldn't help but peek down occasionally on the ground below to keep an eye on Sonic too.

Meanwhile, Kitty and Topaz's flight to the shore of Eggman's base continued to nothing short of treacherous. In spite of the fact their counter weapons were working very well in destroying Eggman's missiles in midair, another problem was beginning to manifest itself. The cooling system within the weapons' computer system was beginning to overheat due to being used too much.

"What's happening?" Kitty asked Topaz with concern after noticing the temperature steadily rising.

"We're firing too much ammo at once." Topaz explained. "It's causing the electronics on our walkers to dramatically overheat."

"What does that mean?" Kitty inquired.

"It means once it reaches over 350 degrees, the weapon will shutoff for at least ten seconds in order to cool down." Topaz answered. "It's a safety mechanism built in to keep the electronic circuit boards from melting."

"Ah, great… just what we need." Kitty muttered softly.

Now having to take this account made their jobs all the more harder. Even so, Kitty wasn't about to lose her resolve. She then asked Topaz while shooting a few plasma beams, "Will the missiles within the walkers still fire?"

"As far as I know, they're not affected by this since they're just fired from our built in launchers." Topaz answered hesitantly as she fired the Gatling gun on her machine as well.

"Good." Kitty said with a smirk. "That gives me an idea then."

Moments later, they finally took out the next round of missiles by Eggman's ground missiles launchers. By this time, they were less than two hundred yards from shore.

"Once we get on shore." Kitty said to Topaz. "We'll blast a hole into the main door near the bottom and climb up with a hook shot."

"10-4."

But before they could move another fifteen yards closer, Tails quickly got onto Kitty's radio frequency, saying with a bit of panic in his voice, "Heads up, you two! Eggman's got dozens of missiles headed straight for you in three different directions!"

"What? Are you serious?" Kitty inquired with shock.

"I don't have time to explain this." Tails told her. "Just be on your guard."

Within seconds, Kitty saw what was the two tailed fox was talking about, making her jaw almost drop in disbelief at just how many were coming at them.

Even Topaz soon saw it, making her ask with fear in her voice, "Now what? Eggman's got us pinned!"

"No he doesn't." Kitty replied firmly, grabbing a hold of the controls a bit tighter in her hands. "Not if we have anything to say about it."

"But how can we possibly fend off this many?" Topaz inquired with concern.

"The only way I know how… fire as many our counter weapons as possible." Kitty replied firmly.

"But it'll overheat the system!" Topaz argued.

"It's a chance we'll have to take." Kitty told her. "We can do it, Topaz. Just buckle down and give it your all. I know we can do this."

With the missiles inching closer every second, Topaz took a deep breath. Deep down, she was almost to the point of absolute panic. However, for the sake of her late fiancé, Topaz, she would keep her resolve and fight to the end.

"Ok, let's do it." Topaz said softly after taking another deep breath.

Back in the sky, Tails during this time was doing all he could to keep his X-Tornado in one piece, using every flying maneuver to evade any oncoming attack. Eggman was basically giving him little room to breathe, as he fired as many missiles as he could at him to blast him out of the sky.

Fortunately for Tails though, his adjustments to the X-Tornado were starting to pay off. Thanks to being able increase the engine power on his jet from the night before, he was able to escape disaster several times, as more than five missiles had come within three feet of hitting his jet, but didn't.

Eventually, it came to the point where Tails knew something had to be done.

_I've got to take out those missiles launchers and turrets around Eggman's base for us to have any chance of breaking inside… but how do I do it?_

Even now, the pain of his chest burns was making it hard for him to fly with everything he had.

Tails then told Amy, "I hope you're buckled up tightly, because it's going to get very bumpy from here on out."

"What are planning to do?" Amy inquired perplexed.

"You'll see... hang on!"

And with those words, Tails instantly pressed down on the wheel, nose diving directly for Eggman's base.

Eggman quickly saw this, making him chuckle inside while watching from his control room, "Is that fox brat actually going to fly right into my missile attacks? What a moron!"

That statement unfortunately by Eggman would end up costing him dearly. With fierce resolve on his face, Tails was determined to give it his all to help out his friends.

_I have to do this. It may be my only chance to help Kitty and the others break inside unscathed._

Seconds later, Tails put his left hand on the control stick that fired the laser cannons installed on the X-Tornado's wings and prepared to fire.

Flying as close as he could while evading the missiles, the two tailed fox then hit the button, firing four large beams of lasers directly at the missiles launchers, using a CPU targeting system to help him aim.

As soon as the lasers hit their designated targets, Tails saw a moderated sized explosion in response, as his attack had seriously damaged several of Eggman's missile launchers, rendering them to the point of complete malfunction.

When Eggman saw the aftermath of this, he became almost completely unglued inside.

"How could that meddling… How could he get through my…?"

The mad doctor could barely say one sentence, as he was deeply enraged now. He eventually regained his composure however, saying with anger, "Well, if he wants to play this kind of game with me, then we'll play!"

Deciding to take no chances, he stepped inside a virtual cockpit nearby and strapped in it tightly, as he was going to blast Tails out of the sky himself with it.

"As long as that brat is in the sky, he could take out my whole fleet of missiles launchers and turrets." Eggman muttered to himself. "If that happens, my whole operation would be in serious jeopardy! I can't and won't let that happen!"

He then said to his two assistants, "I'll be manning the turret guns and missiles launchers mounted on the base from here on out. You two just focus on blasting those two agents with the missiles launchers built into the ground nearby."

"As you wish, Doctor." Decoe answered.

While this was going on, Tails managed to shoot a few more missiles launchers nearby, seriously damaging them in the process.

At this point, he was getting pumped inside, as he felt he could do this and succeed.

That is, of course until Eggman inadvertently got onto his radio frequency, telling him, "Don't get too cocky, fox brat. You may have pulled a fast one on me, but it's my turn now to return the favor."

Tails at this was deeply concerned, as well as perplexed by how Eggman locked onto his radio receiver so easily. Even Amy couldn't help but say, "How was he able to talk to you through your radio?"

Moments later, with Eggman now manning the missiles launchers and turrets on his base, Tails then turned his head saw a half dozen of them headed for his jet from behind.

"Hoo boy, here we go." He commented, sweating a little.

Amy quickly saw them too, making her ask in a state of panic, "Now what do we do?"

Tails thought it over for a second, saying, "There's only one thing to do."

As he hit the overdrive button on steering wheel to give the jet a bit of a boost, Tails replied, "We need to find Sonic and soon."

"Why? What can he do to help us now?" Amy inquired.

"If I can get him a super ring from the X-Tornado's nose on the fly, he should be able to destroy these missiles launchers with ease, making it so Kitty and the others can get inside."

"Um, just wondering… Is there a reason why you only mentioned her name just now?" Amy pondered with arched eyebrows.

Tails instantly blushed, as he was worried Amy might have figured out his secret. However, he blew it off saying, "Uh, n-no reason at all actually. Anyway, I don't have time to talk now. In fact, I'm going to need you to tell me where to maneuver from behind since I'm going to be focusing on looking for Sonic in the meantime."

"Uh, sure." Amy replied.

Amy by this time was becoming very convinced about Tails personal secret regarding Kitty, but with them in the thick of a huge battle, this was not the place, nor the time to talk about it.

Speaking of Sonic, he was the only who was enjoying this battle so far. The fact he was able to run faster than any of the missiles that were shot at him only added to his psyche. In fact, he even taunted him out loud after a while, "C'mon, Eggbelly, is this the best you can do against me? I'm not even breaking a sweat out here."

His taunts unfortunately did not go unnoticed, as Decoe and Becoe by this time were fed up, as they radioed their boss and asked, "We can't hit Sonic. He's too fast for anything we shoot at him."

"And your point is…?"

"Sir, we request you send some of your E series robots onto the shore to slow him down." Becoe suggested.

"And why would I do that?" Eggman demanded. "I told you, I just want you to tire him out for now."

"Yes, but what about that super ring of his?" Decoe inquired.

"What about it?"

"If Sonic gets one of those in his hands, Doctor Eggman, he could really do some damage to our weapons around the base." Becoe replied.

"Bah! That won't happen." Eggman retorted arrogantly, blowing them off. "I'll blast that two tailed menace out of the sky before he gets the chance."

"Sir, I think it's better to play it safe, don't you think?" Becoe suggested softly.

Deeply annoyed by their talk, the mad doctor finally gave in, saying, "All right, fine! You can send a few of my E robots out to slow him down a bit."

Before they could say anything in return, Eggman added firmly, "Just remember, none of you are to hurt Sonic too much. You can rough him if you want, but I want him alive and well so I can watch the beating of his life against my new robot up close and personal. Understood?"

"You got it, sir." Decoe answered, saluting him again. "We won't let you down."

Eggman then focused back on his task of blasting Tails out of the sky. With a huge arsenal of weapons at his disposal, he said to himself, "It won't be too much longer before he and that fancy jet of his is toast!"

Meanwhile… Sonic soon discovered Eggman sending out more than a dozen of his E series robots onto the shore to attack him as he ran, none other than the E-13 Guardbots. Seeing this only made the blue hedgehog all the more psyched up inside.

"So, old Eggy wants to make things interesting for me, eh? Well, the more the merrier!"

Sonic then kicked it up a notch, as he was going to give these robots of his a personal thrashing.

While this had been going on, Kitty and Topaz were in the middle of a huge fire fight, or missile fight to be more accurate, as they were basically forced to fire everything they had to keep their vehicles, as well as their lives intact.

Kitty and Topaz pressed the buttons on their control pad to fire as many plasma beams and Gatling gun bullets as possible to blast as many missiles coming at them as they could, even steering a bit to the left and right to counter the missiles coming at them from those directions.

Unfortunately, as Topaz had said, the temperature again began to rise dramatically, now swelling past 330. "We're going to have to switch weapons or else risk a ten second shutoff." Topaz warned Kitty after they got a small breather.

With the temperature now at 345, the feline agent knew she was right.

"Ok, let's do it then." Kitty replied with a sigh.

Quickly switching to the control pad inside her machine that activated the missiles, Kitty pressed the button that opened the hatch that stored the missiles, as she prepared to fire.

Topaz too thankfully managed to open her missile hatch in time too. Kitty then said to her moments later, "If we can time this down correctly, we should be able to alternate between weapons without having to worry about the overheating problem."

"I hope you'll be right about that." Topaz said with concern.

"Just remember to save at least one missile for the main door." Kitty reiterated. "We'll need to have at least one in order to blast inside."

Topaz again nodded her head. She then looked up, and saw more of Eggman's missiles coming towards them.

"Get ready, here comes another batch." Topaz said to Kitty.

Kitty quickly saw them, as she tightened her hand on the control panel saying softly to herself, "its go time."

Once the missiles got close enough for them to hit, Kitty and Topaz instantly locked on their targets, using their missiles to fire back and destroy Eggman's in midair.

As Kitty had planned, this allowed their main counter weapons to cool down, as it began to dramatically drop in temperature, soon going below 300 and counting. During that time, Kitty and Topaz each had used five missiles from their total of twenty each to keep Eggman's weapons off of them.

Seconds later, with another batch of missiles coming for them, the temperature of their weapons' computer system was now at optimal levels again.

"Let's switch back to the main counter weapon." Kitty told Topaz.

"Roger." Topaz replied.

Again, they were able to fend off the missiles that came at them, now using the plasma beams and Gatling gun bullets to destroy each missile on contact within twenty feet or more.

Kitty's strategy of altering weapons was starting to pay off, as they fended off missile after missile attack with ease, only having to use one more missile from their launchers apiece in the process. Thanks to the cool breeze by the ocean waves, as well as given a few seconds between each round of attack due to Decoe and Becoe unable to load them any faster as well, the weapons' system for the time being was able to stay under 350.

It quickly got to the point, Decoe and Becoe realized they had to change strategies.

"We can't send anymore missiles since Eggman's using the ones on the base to blast the X-Tornado." Decoe commented.

"Not to mention we're sending most of ones we have after Sonic." Becoe added.

It was then; they realized what they had to.

"We must reallocate our priorities." Decoe suggested.

"Agreed." Becoe replied.

Right there on the spot, Decoe and Becoe decided to use at least half of the missiles they were sending after Sonic now towards agents Katswell and Topaz.

"Eggman wants us to save Sonic for later, but he never said we couldn't blast those two in the meantime." Decoe said.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Becoe inquired.

Within seconds, Eggman's two assistants changed the designated targets of half of their missiles they had, now aiming them right for the two G.U.N walkers of Kitty and Topaz.

"They'll never see it coming." Decoe said with a chuckle.

"Couldn't agree more." Decoe added with a smirk in his eyes.

Moments later, Kitty and Topaz polished off another round of missiles that came near them. By this time, they were less than thirty yards from shore.

"We should be on shore within a minute." Kitty said to Topaz.

"I hope so. This battle is really getting too…"

Topaz could not finish her sentence, as when she was what was coming for them made completely speechless.

"Topaz, what's wrong?" Kitty inquired.

"I think you better take a look from above." Topaz replied shakily. She could barely talk, as this G.U.N agent was at the point of complete panic. There were missiles coming for them now in five different directions.

Kitty then saw it too, making her say in horror, "Oh my goodness! That's gotta be at least twice as many than what we had to deal with before!"

"We're so screwed…" Topaz commented.

"No we aren't!" Kitty shouted in defiance. "Don't lose heart, Topaz."

"We can't possible fend off that many missiles at once." Topaz argued.

Kitty had to admit, it was a very alarming sight. Nonetheless, she wouldn't back down, saying to her partner, "We must give it your all, Topaz. If we go down, then let's do it with guns a blazing."

Topaz could not help but be inspired by Kitty's determination. So, she swallowed hard and said, "Ok then. Let's fight… to the end.

During this time, Rouge happened to notice their dire situation during her flight to the island, making her look on with deep concern. She then frowned deeply, thinking, _if Eggman think he's going to wipe those two out now, he's got another thing coming!_

Not that Rouge cared too much about Kitty's fate, but since Topaz was in the mix, it made her want to help both of them for Topaz's sake.

With her less than fifteen yards from shore, Rouge knew what to do to help them out.

_I'll use my screw kicks and destroy Eggman's missile launchers. That'll teach him to mess with my friend._

Meanwhile in the air, Tails' death defying aerial performance against Eggman's missile attacks continued. Pushing the boundaries as far as he could, the two tailed fox pulled off amazing feats, as he zigzagged past Eggman's oncoming attacks from behind while shooting the turrets and missile launchers in front of him. Since they were in the way during his search for the blue hedgehog, it was a twofer.

Even Amy could barely keep her eyes open while in her seat, seeing missiles and bullet fly past them by inches. Some even exploded in midair a few feet in the air, making her flinch.

"Tails, a-are you sure you this is a smart move?" Amy inquired with deep concern after this went on for a bit.

"Perhaps not, but it has to be done." Tails replied firmly. "Keep watch of the rear of the jet for me while I look for Sonic, ok?"

"O-o-h-h-k…" Amy answered hesitantly.

Twenty seconds into this, Tails' twofer plan was starting to pay big dividends. He was able to take out over 25% of the turrets and missiles launchers.

"Sonic should be real close by now." Tails commented. "Once I get him the ring, then we'll be able to do some real damage to Eggman then."

That proclamation by the two tailed fox unfortunately would not happen. Eggman by this time had turned up the heat even more, firing everything he had, now even faster than before.

Amy quickly saw a dozen missiles coming up from behind, making her gasp. She then said to Tails, "Watch out! We've got about a dozen missiles coming at us from behind!"

Hearing this caused a slight concern within him, but he kept his resolve, "replying, "Ok, tell me where go."

Keeping a close eye, Amy said after one came close, "Move up, now!"

Tails immediately complied, as he pushed back on the stick. Moments later, two missiles went flying by, missing the X-Tornado by inches.

However, not even two seconds after this, Amy saw now two more missiles right behind them.

"Dive, dive!" She shouted.

Tails again followed her instructions immediately, pushing down on the control stick just enough to evade.

Once the X-Tornado cleared them, Amy glanced back and saw another two came closing in, this time parallel of each other, only separated by twenty feet.

"Rotate the jet 90 degrees." Amy instructed. Since there were still more missiles coming, she decided to give him a maneuver that he could correct faster than before.

Tails once again did as she instructed him, flipping the jet at exactly 90 degrees on its left side.

Seconds later, the two missiles that were side by side of each other flew by, missing the X-Tornado by a good three feet.

After Tails righted the X-Tornado, Amy looked back again and saw there were still seven more still to deal with, and closing in fast.

Thankfully though due to Amy's instruction, she was able to help steer Tails clear of any danger for now. The two tailed fox though had to pull of air maneuver after air maneuver to evade getting hit by the missiles. This included having to move in all four directions, several loops, even pulling off a few barrel rolls when a few more missiles were fired at him from the front.

During this time as well, Tails was able to take out a few missiles launchers around the area with his laser cannons. Although, there were still plenty more left.

Moments later after getting a small breather due to the launchers reloading, Tails said to himself as he glanced down on the floor, "Where is Sonic anyway?"

Sonic unfortunately would not be easy to spot, as he was too busy at the moment blasting around the island, toying with Eggman's E-13 Guardbots, zigzagging around their ammunition and jumping over them with ease.

Ten seconds into this, Sonic said to himself with a chuckle, "This is too easy. Is Eggman even trying?"

Sonic unfortunately would get his answer to that question. Not even three seconds after saying this, five E-12 Behemoth's came out of nowhere, surrounding the blue hedgehog in five different directions. Sonic was even forced to come to a halt to avoid slamming into one of these monstrosities head on.

Once he did, he commented a bit surprised, "So, Eggman's turning up the heat on me, eh?" He then got into a fighting stance, saying to the E series robot, "Well, bring it on! I can take you all on without breaking a sweat!"

Back on the other side of the island, Kitty and Topaz were now fighting for their very survival. With twice as many missiles coming for them, it was going to take every bit of effort on their part to keep themselves in one piece.

Kitty then instructed Topaz, "You cover the part of the middle and right side while I cover the other part and the left side."

Topaz nodded their head, as the two G.U.N agents carried out Kitty's plan.

As expected, both of them were forced to shoot as aggressively as possible, firing as many plasma beams and Gatling gun bullets at the missiles that came near them. In spite of the overheating risk, Kitty was planning to push it to its very limit for the time being.

Fifteen seconds into this, the temperature on their weapons computer system was again nearing 350 degrees. Now forced to change it up, Kitty quickly told Topaz, "Switch to the missiles, now!"

With Topaz's temperature gauge near the 350 degree mark as well, she immediately complied.

"Don't forget, we only have twenty six left in our arsenal." Topaz warned.

"I'm aware of that." Kitty replied. "Let's just do the best we can at using them wisely."

That turned out to be easier said than done. With dozens of missiles headed straight for them, Kitty knew they might have no choice but to use every single one of theirs in order to survive.

As it turned out, that fear was becoming a dire reality. Both of them fired missile after missile to blast Eggman's in midair. Not even thirty five seconds into this, and they already has used over fifteen now.

Kitty did not like the looks of this scenario one bit. If this kept up, they'd be out of missiles in two minutes tops.

Meanwhile, in Eggman's base, Decoe and Becoe really were beginning to get frustrated. Not only were the two G.U.N agents still alive, but they soon saw their launchers were becoming fewer in numbers.

They quickly figured out who was responsible though, as they it was none other than Rouge the bat. Thanks to solid timing on her part, she was able to screw kick the launchers into oblivion without injuring herself.

Seeing this made Decoe shout, "I've had enough of her tricks! Double agent or not, I'm going to make her pay for reducing our defensive weapons!"

Decoe though wouldn't get chance, as Eggman quickly got on the radio after hearing Decoe's rant, shouting at him, "Don't you dare try to kill her!"

"But sir, she's taking out all of her defensive weapons!" Becoe argued. "She'll help the others break inside if we don't stop here."

"Who cares about that?" Eggman retorted. "That's not my main concern now."

Decoe and Becoe looked at the mad doctor confused, as Eggman explained, "Rouge is just carrying out her part of my plan. I told her to put on a good show, and that's what she's doing right now."

He then added to clear things up, "My missiles launchers were not intended to blast Sonic and his friends to bits anyway, just the two agents coming on shore and to keep the rest of G.U.N at bay."

"But why are you shooting at Tails then?" Decoe inquired perplexed.

"Because his X-Tornado is a dangerous threat to my whole operation." Eggman answered with a frown. "As long as I destroy that super plane of his, I don't care what else that fox brat does because he's helpless to fight back any other way."

Hearing this somewhat answered their questions.

Eggman then told him sharply moments later, "Now then, get Agent Katswell and Topaz! Keep them off shore and blast their machines they're piloting to pieces!"

"Yes, sir, Doctor Eggman." Decoe answered respectfully. "You can count on us."

After Eggman exited out his virtual screen, Becoe told Decoe, "You heard the doc, let's get em!"

"Right." Decoe replied.

Since Rouge was reducing their number of launchers with her screw kicks, Eggman's assistants decided to focus all its attacks they were in control of on Kitty and Topaz.

"There's no way they'll get out of this predicament now." Decoe commented with sly eyes.

While this had been going on, Kitty and Topaz finally polished off another round of missiles, but had used a lot of weapons in order to do so. By now, they had less than seven missiles between them.

Thankfully though, the counter weapons' system had cooled down enough for them to use it again.

Kitty now saw they were less than twenty yards from shore, telling Topaz, "Quick, let's make a break for it and get to land before Eggman tries to attack us again."

"Right." Topaz replied.

Unfortunately though, halfway into this plan, Topaz realized they could not outrun the missiles, as she saw missiles quickly raining down on them in a fury yet again.

"Kitty, look out!" she shouted.

The feline agent eventually looked up, making her gasp in horror.

With no time to fire, Kitty quickly put her Hot Shot walker in reverse, accelerating at top speed backwards in the process. Even Topaz was forced to do likewise. Fortunately for the two of them, they were able to evade the missiles, but just barely, as the missiles exploded in front of the two agents by only a foot. The result of this though caused large sizes of waves to splash on their windshields fervently.

Even though they had dodged a serious bullet, neither would get a chance to breathe. Seconds later, the next round was launched at them with speed and fury.

Kitty then tilted her Hot shot walker towards the sky in order to use the plasma cannon to deal with the missiles coming at them from above and fired it as fast as she could. Topaz also did likewise with the Gatling gun since that was only sure fire strategy. The two gals again and again fired their weapons in desperation, blasting missile after missile in midair.

But again unfortunately, the weapons' system temperature was dramatically rising to 300 and climbing, putting both G.U.N agents in a serious bind. However, it was a matter of survival now, so they pressed on.

Once it went past 345 though, Kitty and Topaz again had no choice but to back off and fire their missiles instead.

To make matters worse, the breather between rounds was becoming shorter and shorter. It was soon was getting to the point that they didn't even have a second to let the system cool down.

In spite of this though, Kitty refused back down. She was determined to break through no matter what.

Thankfully for the two G.U.N agents, their locked on target systems were nearly flawless, as they maximized each missile they fired, causing it to take out as many three to four of Eggman's in one shot.

Sadly though, they were quickly running out of missiles, and both of them knew it. If that wasn't bad enough, their weapons' system was not cooling down fast enough for their liking.

"I have only three missiles left." Topaz informed Kitty over the radio. "What about you?"

"I'm down to two." Kitty replied, showing a bit of concern in her voice.

"Well, let's make the most of them." Topaz said, trying to be optimistic.

By this time, the weapons system had cooled down around 275 degrees, which made Kitty say, "Let's give our counter measures another go."

"You sure we should use them again this soon?" Topaz inquired. "With so many missiles still coming after us, we're more than likely to overheat the system temporarily."

"It's a risk we'll have to take then." Kitty replied firmly. "We must save the missiles for later, especially since we don't have any more left than what we started off with."

Topaz slowly nodded her head in agreement, saying, "Well, ok then.

Moments later, another round of missiles was launched towards them, putting both G.U.N agents on notice.

"Get ready, here comes another attack." Kitty said firmly.

And with those words, they did just that. Now using the counter weapons once more, Kitty and Topaz fired them as fast, but as methodical as they could. Heeding Topaz's warning, the feline agent decided to not use the plasma beams any more than necessary. Topaz did this with the Gatling gun as well.

Unfortunately though, it was quickly getting to the point neither could use this strategy for much longer and not get blasted. Thanks to Decoe and Becoe focusing all of their missiles attacks on them, they had no choice but to fire aggressively again or risk total annihilation.

"We're out of options here." Kitty said to Topaz while firing the plasma beams. "We have to go all out or we're toast."

Topaz knew she was right. So, they went back to firing as fast as they could, destroying missile after missile that came near them. However, like before, the temperature began to rise to dangerous levels again. Once it neared to 340, Topaz said to Kitty, "We've got to back off or risk a shutoff.

But with so many missiles still coming towards them, Kitty replied, "Just a few more shots and then we'll give it a chance to cool down."

Kitty though unfortunately pushed it too far, as she fired one shot too many, causing it exceed 350. Even Topaz sadly did this too after deciding to do likewise.

Within moments, the system locked the counter weapons out, displaying a red flashing screen with the words, "Warning, weapon systems has reached dangerous heat levels. Ten second cool down activated.

Kitty banged her dash in frustration, saying, "Drat! I was afraid of this."

"Never mind that." Topaz replied with deep concern in her voice. "We've got to switch back to the missiles now."

Kitty knew she was right. So, they switched back in time before any of Eggman's missiles could come close to them. But with only five left between them, it was looking very dicey.

Maximizing their locked on target system, both of them were able to take out another two to four missiles apiece. However, they were now down to one apiece not even ten seconds later.

With another round of missiles coming for them within moments, Topaz said to Kitty, "We have to use our last missile now. We don't have any choice."

Kitty really didn't want to use it, since she was planning to save it for the door inside Eggman's base. Nevertheless, with more missiles coming after them, she bit the bullet and replied, "Ok, let's do it."

Before they fired though, Kitty instructed, "Once we fire our last missiles, put the walker in reverse, because we're going to have to do some major evading until our weapon's system cools down."

Topaz nodded her, as she was ready to carry out the plan.

A second later, both of them fired their last missiles, taking out as many as five in the process. Then, they instantly put their machines in reverse. Like before, missiles came flying in front of them, just barely missing the two agents by less than foot. Again, huge waves of water resulted from the missiles exploding in the ocean, splashing their walkers fervently.

By this time, the weapon's system had cooled down enough for them use again. Unfortunately for them though, another problem soon came up quickly afterwards. When Kitty tried to use the plasma beams again, it would not fire.

"What's wrong with this thing?" Kitty pondered perplexed. "Why won't it shoot?:

Her onboard screen soon showed why. It read, "Warning, serious water damage to CPU."

"What, you got to be kidding me!" the feline agent shouted frustrated.

Even Topaz's sadly received serious water damage. As it turned out, the large waves of sea water had slowly, but surely seeped into the electronics, causing a serious short circuit.

"I can barely get my Gatling gun to work." Topaz told Kitty in a state of panic. "Now what?"

"What else? Take evasive action!" Kitty replied firmly.

And that's just what they did. Both G.U.N agents swerved their walkers as fast as they could to evade the oncoming missiles. This though would turn out to be a lot more difficult than it looked.

"I can't believe this system isn't water proof." Kitty muttered during this time.

"Well, we don't use these machines to fly over oceans." Topaz reiterated. "I can't say I'm completely surprised."

Kitty let out a deep sigh, saying out loud, "Man, can things get any worse?"

She would sadly get her wish. Decoe and Becoe now changed their firing pattern a bit. Seeing them able to evade the missiles with their walkers, they fired them this time in a way that would next to impossible to dodge.

Kitty soon looked up and saw their new pattern, none other than a formation in rows of twelve, five rows deep.

"Reverse, Reverse!" Kitty shouted frantically to Topaz.

Topaz did as she said, as they both reversed course. Unfortunately though, with so many missiles coming towards them in at a precise angle, Kitty could clearly see they would not be able to evade every single one.

Trying not to panic, the feline agent said to Topaz, "We can miss these. Don't give up hope."

"However, Kitty's words felt very hollow inside, as she was certain they were in big trouble. She even heard Topaz say softly with deep remorse in her voice, "I'm so sorry, Tanaka. I guess I won't be able to avenge you now.

Kitty then thought with despair, _Is this it? Has Eggman finally beaten us?_

The feline agent soon closed her eyes after thinking this, as she could not bear to watch her own demise.

Thankfully for the two agents, this would not happen. Several seconds later, Kitty heard a huge explosion above her, but it wasn't due to the missiles hitting the ocean floor. Instead, it was caused by someone watching over her, literally.

Kitty quickly opened her eyes and looked up, making her gasp in disbelief.

"Tails?"

Indeed it was. In spite of the fact he was still dealing with Eggman and trying to get a hold of Sonic at the moment, he had saw what Decoe and Becoe was trying to do. And in that moment, he vowed to not let that happen.

He then said to them over the radio after evading another missile attempt Eggman's, "Hurry, get to shore! I'll cover for you in the meantime."

"You sure you can handle that much at once?" Kitty asked concerned.

"Don't worry about me. Just hurry!" Tails replied. "Sonic's going to need your help."

Seeing the opportunity before them, Kitty and Topaz decided to take full advantage of it. With Tails shooting down most of the missiles in front of the two agents with his laser cannons, they instantly made a move for shore.

Even so, their flight to shore didn't come easily. Both agents still had to weave back and forth to evade, as Tails was not able to shoot every single one down thanks to Eggman still breathing down his neck.

Finally, ten seconds later, they made it the island shore, now lowering their G.U.N walkers to the ground, where the metal feet were firmly planted on the sand.

Kitty and Topaz then opened their canopies, as the feline agent grabbed her gear and said to Topaz, "Quick, grab your weapon's bag and let's get a move on!"

Topaz did as she was told, asking once they both jumped out while running, "Won't we be more vulnerable on foot though?"

"No, because we can use our weapons to fire if necessary." Kitty replied. "Now let's go meet up with Sonic and Rouge as soon as possible."

Seconds later, several missiles came flying in from above. Thankfully though, they were far enough away that it didn't come close hitting them. Although, their walkers weren't so lucky, as they were blasted to pieces due to the missiles being aimed there.

While this was going on, Sonic found his battle with the E-12 Behemoths more difficult than originally thought. Due to being five of them, he was unable to evade for long. Within ten seconds of trying to toy with these large robots, Sonic was smacked hard in the face by one, sending him flying several dozen feet, where he landed in the sand near the lower parts of the cliffs. This attack had seriously stunned him to the point he was a bit dazed.

Seconds after this, the five of them surrounded him, putting the blue hedgehog in a serious bind.

Amy, who unwisely happened to witness this instead of watching the rear of the jet, said with a gasp, "Oh no. My Sonikku's is now in serious trouble."

"Amy!" Tails quickly scolded. "You're supposed to be watching the rear of the X-Tornado for me."

"Relax; I'm still keeping an eye on…"

Just then, a missile abruptly hit the X-Tornado from behind, causing it to shake all over.

"What was that?" Amy asked in fear.

"That was the result of you not doing your job." Tails reprimanded with a frown. "Nice going." As it turned out, one of the engines from behind was hit from the side, causing it to catch fire and lose power.

"I've got no choice but to land here back at one of the G.U.N battleships or Eggman will fry us for sure." Tails explained.

But before he could, Amy said, "Wait, Tails."

"What?"

"Let me redeem myself first." Amy suggested.

"And how will you be able to do that exactly?" Tails inquired perplexed.

Amy quickly thought it over, as she snapped her fingers, "I got it. Can you transfer Sonic's super ring to the cockpit?

"Yea, why?"

"Because, I have an idea." Amy replied with a grin.

As Tails looked at her with arched eyebrows, she added, "Trust me on this."

So, the two tailed fox did as she asked, quickly transferring from the nose into his hand. After she handed it over to him, Amy said while holding it, "Thanks, Tails. Now I can… Tails look out!"

Tails looked up ahead, and there he saw two missiles from Eggman coming for them for them from the front, this time aimed at both wings.

"Quick, do a barrel roll!" Amy shouted

"Will do. Hang on!" Tails told her.

As the missiles neared closer, the two tailed fox did just that, as he barrel rolled his way to evade the attack. Once he cleared them, Tails inquired after a taking a deep breath, "So what's this plan of yours anyway?"

"Simple." Amy replied. "Hit my eject button."

"What? Are you crazy?" Tails demanded in disbelief.

"Trust me. I know what I'm doing. Just get me near Sonic before you do." Amy explained to him.

Tails was extremely reluctant, but decided to go ahead and let her do it.

Seconds later, now overhead of where Sonic currently was, Tails hit the eject button for Amy's seat, sending her flying out of the jet, where she soon parachuted to the ground below. During this time, he happened to see Eggman shoot more missiles, which in turn made him get ready to evade yet again.

Meanwhile, Amy's decent to the ground below was anything but smooth. Eggman unfortunately happened to see her eject, making him react by shooting a few turret bullets at her.

Amy though was ready for this possibility. She quickly grabbed her Piko Hammer in her hands and then lept out her chair, as she was going to dive bomb the E-12 Behemoth's from above. Her timing turned out to be very good, as Eggman's bullets shredded her chair to pieces not even two seconds after she jumped out of it.

Even though this was a very risky move on her part, Amy would do all she could to help her beloved hero.

Back on the ground, Sonic was pondering about how he was going to get out of this predicament. However, he wouldn't have to think about it for long. Out of nowhere, Amy quickly flying in, now holding her Piko Hammer tightly above her head, ready to swing.

Seconds later, she went to strike, as she drilled one of the E-12 Behemoths on the head with full force. Her attack was so strong; it slammed the large to the ground completely dazed. Even Sonic was dumbfounded by her sudden appearance.

Amy though wasn't done. Standing on top of the E-12 she had knocked down, the pink hedgehog instantly went berserk, as she hit every robot that stood in front of her with rage and fury.

She would not let them hurt her hero if she had anything to say about it.

Amy's attack turned out to be stronger than even Sonic anticipated. While she wasn't able to damage them much, she did get them off balance, even knocking a few to the ground thanks to hitting the back of their metal knees.

Within seven seconds, she had taken down enough to clear a path. She then said to Sonic, ready to bolt "Let's get outta here!"

Sonic however took her by surprise, as he abruptly grabbed her and carried the pink hedgehog in his arms, instantly blasting off afterwards.

As he ran, Amy's emotional state was mixed. While she loved the fact he was carrying her, she didn't know why for sure. So, she asked during the journey, "Where are we going?"

Sonic though didn't answer her. Instead, he ran towards the bottom of Eggman's base and stopped near it, where he carefully put her on the ground. He then said to her, "Stay here. You should be safe for the time being since Eggman wouldn't dare shoot you near his own fortress."

"Sonic, wait."

"What is it, Amy?" he asked a bit annoyed.

She then pulled out the ring and said, "Here, you'll need this."

The blue hedgehog was now psyched up inside, commenting, "All right! Now I can do some real damage!"

After she handed it over to him, Amy gave him a kiss on the cheek, saying, "Good luck, Sonikku."

Sonic strangely didn't flinch negatively to this affection. Instead, he gave her a slight nod and replied, "Be back soon. Stay here until I return."

And with that, he powered up with the ring and blasted off.

Once he was out of sight, Amy thought to herself with a smile, _He didn't mind me kissing him this time. Maybe I'm making progress._

Unfortunately for her though, she couldn't give this much thought, as the same E-12 Behemoth's from before finally caught up and saw her, quickly pursuing towards her.

Grabbing her Piko Hammer again, Amy said with determination in her eyes, "Come and get me, scum bots."

While this had been going on, Tails realized he was going to have to retreat soon and return to G.U.N's navy battleship or risk getting his X-Tornado blasted out of the sky by Eggman's missiles. However, before he did, he decided to do one last thing to help the others out. He then flew towards Eggman's base, flying as fast as the X-Tornado could go.

In spite of the engines heavily damaged and on the verge of exploding, he was going to take a shot at it anyway.

_Ok, here goes nothing. Tornado, don't fail me now._

Eggman soon saw him coming towards his base, putting a grin on the mad doctor's face. "So, still trying to come after me even though your jet is wounded? Your folly will cost you dearly, fox brat."

Eggman then prepared to fire again, as he was going to aim primarily at the other jet engine in order to bring his plane down. Moments later, the mad doctor fired as many missiles and turret bullets as he could at the X-Tornado, determined to blast it to bits.

Tails during this time had a whale of a time trying to evade due to his jet being slower now. Even so, he gave it everything he had. Not even the chest burns he had suffered earlier, which were really starting to hurt now slowed him down.

The two tailed fox again used every evasive maneuver to keep his jet in one piece from getting hit, moving left, right, up, down, loops, barrel rolls, even flipping the jet at 90 degrees at one point.

Eggman was soon becoming very baffled inside, as he couldn't believe Tails could steer his jet from harm in spite of the fact it was running basically on one engine. The mad doctor then got an even bigger shot, when he saw Tails shooting his lasers at the base door.

Even though the base door was still on its hinges, Tails' laser attack heavily damaged it to the point it was no longer able to seal any intruders out.

Eggman then growled loudly inside after witnessing this amazing feat, saying to himself with rage while banging his control desk, "You despicable furball! I'll get you for this!"

Tails on other hand sighed a big sigh of relief, as his planned had worked. _Now Kitty won't have to use any of her ammo to break down the door. That should come in handy hopefully._

With his mission accomplished, the two tailed fox then turned his plane around and prepared to head back to safety. Unfortunately for him, he had set off Eggman big time. Out of nowhere, a turret bullet came flying in from behind and hit the wounded jet engine, finally destroying it.

Tails unfortunately didn't see it due to turning around, putting him on edge. "Oh, shoot! I pulled away too soon!"

Seeing him down to one engine now fired up Eggman, as he shot everything he had at the X-Tornado.

Thankfully for Tails though, he was able to keep the rest of his jet in one piece, but it was a very difficult challenge to say the least. With his right engine officially out, his speed dropped dramatically. Within thirty seconds, he finally made it back to the G.U.N navy battle ship, where he used the mecha feet to park safely on top of it.

Moments later, several G.U.N soldiers on the ship came running towards the X-Tornado and put out the fire in the back. Once it was out, Tails opened the canopy and flew to the back to examine the damage. As it turned out, it was quite extensive.

Tails let out a sigh, feeling a bit discouraged inside now. _Just perfect. How can I possibly help out my friends with my X-Tornado in such disarray?_

While he examined the destroyed right engine, the G.U.N Commander came walking up to him, demanding from the two tailed fox, "Status report."

Tails was confused by this order, as the Commander added, "Are you making any solid progress?"

"Yes we are, sir." Tails replied. "But Eggman just made it tougher on us now that my X-Tornado's in bad shape."

The G.U.N Commander was soon in deep thought. He then snapped his fingers and said to his men, "Find the mechanics on this ship and get them up here right away."

"What for, sir?" one G.U.N solider asked.

"Why, to help this young lad fix his jet of course." The Commander replied firmly.

"Uh, are you sure you want to do that?" another asked him awkwardly. They had asked this question after the way they saw him treat Sonic earlier.

"Of course I do!" Commander Towers answered, now a bit annoyed inside. "This jet is vital to the cause of rescuing the President, and we must do whatever it takes to do so. Now get going!"

Seeing he was serious about this order, they did as they were told. While the two G.U.N soldiers went to find them, Tails asked the G.U.N Commander, "Uh, are you sure they'll be able to help? This jet of mine may not be as easy to fix like your other planes. It runs on a different power source."

"Don't worry about that." He told Tails. "The point is, I want to make sure you get this fixed as soon as possible."

"Uh, thanks, Commander." Tails said to him sheepishly.

Moments later, a bad thought crossed the two tailed fox's mind. _Is he only helping me out just because of the President?_

Tails wasn't sure what to think of this, but decided to worry about it later.

Back on the island, Sonic was quickly wreaking havoc around Eggman's base. Thanks to having his super ring, he was able to spin into a ball at blistering speeds. Sonic even was able to shred a lot of the mad doctor's missile launchers to bits in one swoop.

Eggman was beside himself after witnessing this.

"Where did he get that ring?" he pondered out loud. "I didn't see Tails shoot one towards him."

Then it hit Eggman. He instantly growled, commenting with rage, "That blasted fan girl of his must've snuck one to him behind my back!"

Again, he banged his control panel, saying, "Well, two can play this game of sneak attack!"

He then pressed some buttons on the same control panel, as he was in the process of summoning more E-13 Guardbots from his base to wipe her out. Once they were launched, Eggman said with a grin, "Let's see her try to outsmart me this time!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, Kitty and Topaz continued to run towards the main door of Eggman's base foot. In spite of the fact Rouge and Sonic had destroyed over 75% of the missile launchers by this time; several still came towards them. As planned, Kitty and Topaz grabbed their M249 SAW and M4A1 Carbine and began to shoot down any missiles that came close to hitting them.

Their weapons thankfully did the job, as their laser attacks blew up any missiles in midair on contact.

Decoe and Becoe however kept the heat on them, determined to wipe them out by any means necessary. However, Eggman soon came over the radio halfway into their attacks, saying, "That's enough shooting. Hold your fire."

"What?" Decoe and Becoe were completely baffled by this order to put it lightly.

"I'll take care of these two personally now." Eggman explained to them.

"Are you sure about that, Doctor?" Becoe inquired.

"Completely." The mad doctor replied. "Now stand back and watch the master at work."

And with that statement, he cut off the radio feed.

"What was that all about?" Becoe asked his robot brother a few seconds later

"I have no idea." Decoe answered.

Meanwhile, back outside, the two agents finally shot down the remaining missiles that came towards them. Several seconds later, Kitty saw the main door of Eggman's base up ahead.

"There it is." Kitty commented. "Time to break inside."

"But what about the others?" Topaz inquired.

"We'll meet up with them soon enough." Kitty replied, reaching for her hook shot. "Let's first blast the door down and form a path in order to get up there."

However, as soon as they climbed up to the first ledge, Eggman was ready for these two G.U.N agents, as two big turret guns inadvertently flashed in front of them out of the ground while they ran closer to his base

Kitty and Topaz instantly recoiled, as they heard Eggman say over a PA on his base nearby, "That's far enough, you troublemakers! Now die!"

Kitty tried to reach for her RPG-7 from behind her back with her right hand in order to blast it, but quickly saw it was ready to fire before she could even get a firm hold of her weapon. Topaz on other the hand froze in place, as she didn't know to do at this point.

Thankfully though, Eggman's plans to kill them would be foiled again. Out of nowhere, Kitty was abruptly grabbed by a blur streak that passed by a split second before it fired.

Even Topaz was bailed out before the turret gun in front of her before it could shoot either. Who saved her you ask? None other than the jewel thief herself.

When Eggman saw they were rescued, he shouted in a rage, "No, no, no, no! Who dares to interfere with my plans this time?"

Eggman unfortunately soon saw the culprits, making him bang his control panel a third time. "Unbelievable… Of all those on this island, it had to be those two!"

Decoe and Becoe then showed up on screen in front of him, with Decoe saying, "Relax, Doctor. We'll pick up the slack for you now."

"You'll what…?"

"Just leave this to us, sir." Becoe added, while attempting to ready the remaining launchers. "We'll make you very proud."

"YOU IDIOTS!" Eggman shouted with fury, "Won't you ever learn?"

Decoe and Becoe were completely dumbfounded by their boss' response.

"But I thought you wanted them wiped out." Decoe said.

"I do, but I can't do it now." Eggman shot back. "Sonic and that meddling bat interfered!"

"Is it really that big of a deal?" Becoe inquired.

Eggman shot him a dirty look, making Becoe really regret asking this.

"I told you nitwits already, Sonic and Rouge must be kept alive for now." Eggman instructed. "She's going to be the key element into luring that meddling hedgehog into a trap."

"So what do you suggest we do then?" Decoe asked.

Eggman took a deep breath, saying with a heavy sigh, "We'll let them in for now in order to get their guard down. Once they're inside, I'll heavily ambush those two agents with my robots and take them out that way."

With that now settled, Decoe soon asked again, "So, uh, what do you want us to do in the meantime?"

Eggman now looked at him firmly, quickly replying, "I'm actually glad you asked that question. I believe it's time now for you two to help me carry Phase 2 for me of my plan."

Decoe and Becoe looked on puzzled, not 100% sure what he meant by that.

Meanwhile, Kitty soon saw who her rescuer was. Due to being grabbed so fast abruptly, it caused her head to spin for a few seconds. When her vision finally cleared up, Kitty said a bit surprised, "Sonic?"

Sonic during this time had slowed down a bit, making it so she could where he was going.

"Looks like I saved you again from Eggman, huh?" he commented with a grin.

"I guess so…"

Kitty during this time didn't what to think of his rescue, but soon commented, ribbing him a bit, "You know, for someone who claims they have no romantic interest in me, you sure have a funny way of showing it."

"Say what?" he looked at her a bit perplexed.

"Well, you are carrying me in a similar fashion like a hero does for the girl he loves." Kitty reiterated. "Just thought I point that out."

Sonic though blew this off, replying a bit sharply, "Love has nothing to do with it. This is just the way I carry people when I need to get a move on."

"I see…" Kitty again was in deep thought, as she soon asked, "So where are we going?"

"Where else, inside of Eggman's base of course." Sonic answered firmly.

"Uh, you know, we were just there." Kitty commented with arched eyebrows.

"Yea, I know." Sonic replied. "But I can't just leave Amy outside either. I need to find out where she ran off to."

"Oh." Kitty again was tempted to rib Sonic about romance, but thought better of it this time. Since they were in the middle of a heavy battle, this was no place to joke around.

Speaking of Amy, she unfortunately had been involved in a huge fight with the E-12 Behemoths. Due to their huge size, Amy had a whale of a time trying to take them down. To make things more difficult, she didn't have the element of surprise anymore either.

Not surprisingly, the E-12 Behemoths soon overpowered her due in spite of her best efforts, as one abruptly smacked her hard with its metal arm.

Amy was instantly sent flying over 20 feet, where she hit the sand face first.

She then struggled to get up, while the E-12 Behemoths soon gave chase again. Seeing she was no match for all five of them at once Amy quickly bolted and tried to find a place to hide in order to ambush Eggman's machines from behind.

However, things would soon turn ugly for her. Within seconds, Eggman's E-13 Guardbots finally found her. Amy gasped in horror, as she saw over a dozen heading towards her way, ready to fire.

Seeing herself in a jam, Amy quickly tried to climb up the one of the lower ledges of the cliffs to escape. Unfortunately for her though, the E-13 Guardbots' bullets inadvertently hit the grass while she ran, which in turn caused her to lose her footing and fall, where she soon hit the sand back first this time.

After Amy got up, she turned around and saw she was cornered now. Both the E-12 Behemoths and E-13 Guard bots had sealed off any chance for her to flee.

Amy was now deeply frightened inside, especially when she saw the E-13 Guard bots ready to fire.

However, she would not meet her demise here. From out of nowhere, Eggman's E-13 Guardbots were hit hard by an RPG, as it came flying in and exploded violently on contact.

Kitty's attack had been right on target, as she aimed for the middle in a pack of E-13's. This in turn took out over five easily. Sonic then finished off the rest of the Guardbots, as he used the remaining power of his super ring to blast right through with them his spin dash.

After they were taken care of, Sonic said to Kitty who was nearby, "Quick, get Amy out of here. I'll handle these metal monstrosities."

Amy though didn't want to go, as she protested saying, "No, I want to help you."

Kitty meanwhile did as Sonic told her, as she grabbed Amy by the arm, saying, "Let's go. We have no time to lose."

Amy again tried to drag her feet, saying with a whine, "Why do you always try to keep me away from my true blue? Do you really love him that much too?"

Kitty let out a loud groan while they ran. She was tempted to scold her again about this, but decided to wait until they were in the clear.

Once they were out of harm's way, Kitty used her hook shot for them to climb up the large cliff ledge. As soon as the feline agent was up top, she said to Amy, "Hurry, climb up this rope."

Amy seriously thought of resisting her, but decided to do as she was told. As soon as she climbed up it, Amy saw Kitty looking over the edge, keeping an eye on Sonic.

She then demanded of Kitty, "Why wouldn't you let me help him?"

"Because Sonic asked me to get you to safety, ok?" Kitty replied sharply, now looking at her in an almost scolding like manner. "He was basically looking out for you and I wanted to respect his wishes."

Amy was now in deep thought about this, as Kitty added with a sigh a few seconds later, "Look, you seriously gotta drop the, "I'm trying to steal Sonic from you." accusation. I don't know how much clearer I have to make myself here, but I'm telling you plainly, I have no interest in Sonic that way whatsoever."

Amy again was in deep thought, as she realized she again had let this slip. However, she didn't get the chance to answer, as Topaz and Rouge finally showed up on the scene, with Topaz saying, "There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you."

Kitty shrugged her shoulders, replying, "Sorry about that. Sonic and I got a little sidetracked after Amy needed our help."

"I see." Topaz said.

Kitty then looked at Rouge, who was silent at the moment, and said to her, "Thanks for saving Topaz for me. I was kind of worried about her after Sonic carried me to safety."

Rouge was about to reply to this, when Amy asked abruptly, "Wait a minute. Sonic actually carried you?"

Kitty slapped her forehead with another groan, realizing she had indeed used a wrong choice of words. But before she could answer back, Rouge finally did speak up, commenting, "Uh, I hate to butt in, but I think Sonic looks a bit overwhelmed at the moment over there."

Kitty quickly took a look and saw she was right. Sonic again unfortunately was having a difficult time dealing with five E-12 Behemoths at once.

Realizing he needed a hand, Kitty said to Topaz, "Quick, lend me your M32 for a sec."

Topaz immediately handed it over, as Kitty went to edge of the cliff and prepared to aim.

Sonic meanwhile during this time was again slammed to the ground. In spite of his best efforts to defeat these large robots, he was unable to handle five at a time. Within seconds, they soon cornered him again from all angles.

Sonic, not being one to back down, said challengingly, "C'mon, is that the best you can do?"

He was about to try and spin dash them again, when he heard Kitty shout from up top, "Duck, Sonic!"

Sonic quickly turned around and saw Kitty with a MGL in her hand. Not wanting to get hit, he ducked indeed.

Once Kitty saw he had done that, she fired five grenades at the E-12 Behemoths directly at their metal heads between the eyes. Again, her aim was right on target, causing a moderate sized explosion on contact, which in turn seriously stunned all five of them, even temporarily causing their CPU vision to short in and out.

Seeing the opening, Kitty shouted to the blue hedgehog while motioning her arm towards her, "This way, Sonic. Hurry!"

Even though Sonic was very tempted to fight these robots further, he thought better of it. He then blasted off and ran towards the cliff, where he quickly jumped up and used the rope of the hook shot to help him climb up.

After he was on top of the cliff, Sonic gave a slight smile to Kitty, saying, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Kitty replied, giving a slight smile back. "I owed you again anyhow."

Amy during this time was frowning upon their conversation, as she couldn't help but feel Sonic again was being nicer to Kitty than to her. Nevertheless, Amy decided to let it go for now, especially since there were more important things at hand.

Kitty then said to the others, "All right, let's get inside."

"But how do we get inside that door anyway with it being so high up?" Amy inquired.

"Or better yet, how do we break down the door?" Topaz added.

"Leave that to me." Kitty replied confidently, holding the MGL up high.

She then walked toward the base and pointed her M32 at the door above. Using precise aim, the feline agent fired her last grenade left in the weapon.

Once more, Kitty's aim was right on target. The 40mm grenade hit the metal directly in the middle, exploding on contact. Since Tails had severely weakened it from before, the grenade easily blasted the door off its hinges.

With that done, the five of them prepared to get inside the base. Rouge then grabbed Kitty's hook shot and flew up to the entrance where the front door originally was. Once she was up there, she carefully attached it inside, where it was now firmly fastened to something heavy.

"Let's go, everyone." Rouge said firmly. "We don't have all day."

The others now began to climb up the rope, where they each made it in one at a time. Soon, everyone was inside except for Kitty.

"What's the holdup, Catwoman?" Rouge demanded annoyed.

"Hang on a sec." Kitty replied. "I need to get in contact with Tails."

Hearing Kitty mention his name made Sonic slap his forehead, "Good grief. In all this excitement, I completely forgot about him."

Moments later, Kitty locked into Tails' radio frequency, where she said, "Come in, Tails. Do you read me?"

Tails didn't answer at first, but did eventually did, answering, "Tails here. Go ahead."

"I'm just calling in to let you know we made it inside Eggman's base." Kitty told him. "You can head back to the G.U.N navy ship now."

Tails at first was hesitant to speak, soon replying, "Well, sadly, I'm already there."

"What do you mean sadly?" Kitty inquired puzzled.

"I had to bail out after Eggman destroyed one of the X-Tornado's engines." Tails explained.

"What? Is it that serious?" Kitty asked him.

"I think so." Tails answered softly. "He really did a number on it."

Kitty now let out a moderate groan, thinking, _ah, great. Just what we need!_

She composed herself though, saying, "Anyway, try to get it fixed if possible. We'll need some way to get off this island eventually."

"I'll do my best to have it ready in time." Tails told her. "With G.U.N helping me out, it shouldn't take too long hopefully."

"That's good to know. Anyway, I better be going. Talk to you later."

Kitty was about to log off the frequency, when Tails said softly, "Kitty?"

"Yea, Tails?"

Tails at first didn't speak for a bit again, as he didn't know how to say this without it sound awkwardly, but then told her with deep concern in his voice, "Be careful in there."

"I will, Tails." Kitty replied, trying to reassure him. "See you soon."

"You too, Kitty." Tails had said that last line as passionately as he could without sounding mushy.

After she logged off, the feline agent began to deeply ponder the way he had said that last sentence of his to her, as she was 90% convinced now he did indeed love her.

Rouge though snapped her out of it a few seconds later, shouting, "Hey, Catwoman! You coming up or not?"

"Oh, uh, right."

Kitty then climbed up the rope as fast she could. Once she was inside, Sonic asked her, "So, everything ok?"

"Yea, pretty much." Kitty replied with a straight face. "Tails is over at the G.U.N navy ship now."

"That's good." Sonic commented with a sigh of relief. "Anyway, let's get going. It's time we gave old Eggbelly what for!"

"Right." Kitty answered firmly.

And with those words, they all began to climb the stairs. Rouge though stayed behind a bit, saying over her radio to Eggman, "They're inside now. We'll be up top soon."

"Good." Eggman replied. "Make sure you get Sonic into the left room once they arrive on the floor directly below my control room."

"Don't worry, Doctor. The trap shall be set as you want it. You just make sure my Chaos Emerald is ready."

"We'll talk about your reward after you do your job." Eggman retorted. "Understood?"

Rouge didn't get a chance to answer, as Kitty finally came back and said after the manipulating bat subtly off contact with the mad doctor, "Hey, what are you doing back here? I thought you wanted to get a move on."

"Oh, uh, right. Sorry about that." Rouge replied nervously. "I was checking to make sure Eggman didn't spot us."

"I don't think that matters." Kitty told her. "He'll know we're here soon enough."

"Good point." Rouge answered. "Anyway, let's go."

Rouge then walked away from Kitty and towards the others.

Kitty on the other hand couldn't help but get a bad feeling about this inside.

_Something's not right about her. I don't believe she took this long just to see if Eggman had spotted us._

In spite of her deep suspicions, Kitty decided to deal with it later. Right now, they had a battle to fight, and she had a feeling it would require everything they had in order to win.

Meanwhile, on Angel Island, Knuckles was still debating within himself whether or not to help out.

In spite of his loyal duty to guard the Emerald, something Kitty had said to him continued to buzz through his head quite frequently.

_You were blessed with a good head on your shoulders, even super strength. Why not use those gifts for something as important as this?_

Knuckles then sighed deeply, thinking, _Even now, I can't get her words out of my head._

He wasn't sure exactly what made those words stick to him. _Is_ _it because she's right about the fact I should be using my talents for a cause as worthy as this? Or is it something much more personal?_

Knuckles soon let out a heavy sigh, saying softly, "What do I do?"

He then took a good look at the Master Emerald; making him think eventually, _is it possible that I care too much about this gem like Sonic claims I do?_

Images of Sonic scolding him soon flashed through his head, as he now vividly remembered something he had said.

_The fact you can't see what's more important really shows how shallow of an individual you really are!_

Deep down, that statement of Sonic's seriously angered the red echidna. However, he had to admit that maybe Sonic did indeed have a point.

_I can't just ignore my duty here though. _Knuckles thought._ I was born to be a guardian of the Master Emerald. It's my life's calling._

Moments later, another thing Kitty had said to him flashed through his head.

_I'll trust you to do the right thing about this._

At this point, Knuckles couldn't help but see that sad, disappointed look on her face in his mind. It ate at his conscience even now.

Eventually, he couldn't stand it any longer, as he thought now with determination in his eyes, _I will do the right thing, Kitty. It may be very difficult for me, but I know it has to be done._

He then set out towards the edge of Angel Island, saying, "Hang tight, guys. I'll be there soon."

And with those words, he quickly lept off and glided off Angel Island headed towards Eggman's base.

He didn't know how he was going to get there since it was in the middle of the ocean, but he would not let anything get in the way of stopping him.

He then thought as he flew towards his destination, _Eggman, I shall do my part to see your downfall. Your time of causing chaos will soon be over._


	15. An epic showdown in Eggman's Base Part 1

Now inside Eggman's base, Sonic, Kitty and the others prepared to head towards the top floor above. They all knew from here on out, it was going to get very difficult.

Eggman had already made it very hard on them trying to get inside. However, that would eventually become a cake walk compared to what he had in store for them very soon.

Kitty, who had refilled the M32 with grenades for Topaz by now, said to the others, now clutching her M249 SAW tightly, "Stay alert, everyone. There's no telling what surprises that mad man has in store for us."

Most of them nodded their head, except for Rouge, who replied, "Relax. I know the ins and outs of this place like the back of my hand."

"And how is it you do know this place so well?" Kitty interrogated, glaring at her. "Are you trying to tell us something?"

Rouge crossed her arms and said, "Well, someone sure wants to make me out as the bad one here, don't they?" She then added, "I helped G.U.N get through this base before. That's how I know it."

"Really?"

"She's telling the truth, Kitty." Topaz reiterated. "After we recruited her on our side, she helped us get inside this base and deal a serious blow to Eggman."

Kitty still wasn't 100% convinced, but decided to trust Topaz on that.

"Anyway, since I know the layout of the base, allow me to lead us up to the top." Rouge suggested.

Kitty thought this idea over, as she still was very reluctant inside. Eventually though, she decided to bite the bullet, replying, "Very well. I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself here."

Rouge didn't say anything in response this time, but instead just gave her a sly grin.

Sonic finally spoke up, "All right, enough talk. Let's get a move on!"

Kitty quickly nodded her head, as Rouge soon led the way while the others followed suit.

Meanwhile on the top floor, Eggman continued to keep a close watch from his control panel. Thanks to having Rouge as his temporary double agent, who was wearing a tracking device, he was able to keep full tabs on their progress.

As he continued to watch intently, Decoe asked him over his main screen and said, "Dr. Eggman?"

"What do you want?" Eggman demanded annoyed.

"We're just letting you know we're now in the room with the E-18 now and will be within minutes of being ready to launch it."

"Good." Eggman replied.

"So, when do we attack?" Becoe inquired.

Eggman let out an out of patience sigh, answering again annoyed, "You attack them when they finally make it to your floor. Not before! You got it?"

"As you wish, sir." Decoe replied.

"And remember." Eggman reiterated. "You are not to harm Sonic and Rouge. They are going to be saved for later. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sure thing, Doctor." Becoe said.

"You can do whatever you want to that meddling feline and the others, should they make it that far that is." Eggman instructed.

"What are you going to do about them in the meantime?" Decoe inquired with curiosity.

"You let me worry about that for now." Eggman replied firmly. "You just make sure you do your job when the time comes."

"Don't worry about a thing." Decoe told him with confidence. "We will make you proud when it's all said and done."

"See that you do!" Eggman retorted.

After he cut the feed from his two assistants, he pressed a few buttons on his control panel, as he planning to send out a few robots to slow them down a bit.

"I think a few of my E-series robots should be able to do the job for now." Eggman commented with a grin. "Might as well not let them get any suspicions about the trap I'm going to set them up in later."

Unknown to Eggman however, Bokkun had listened in to the whole conversation in the shadows. Still angry about being left out of the plans, he thought to himself, _I'll show the doc I'm more valuable than he thinks! And when I do, he'll seriously regret making me the bottom of the totem pole here!_

Bokkun then flew out of the room in a hurry; as he was planning to sneak attack Sonic and the others from when they least expected it.

Back downstairs, Rouge continued to lead the others up the stairs. Due to having too much to carry at once, Sonic and Amy carried Kitty's and Topaz's weapon's bag for them like a backpack. The plan was once enemies showed up; they would place the bag out of range for it to be tampered with, even tossing them extra ammo if necessary.

Kitty had even suggested to them during their climb, "Let me, along with Topaz and Rouge be on the frontlines for now."

They of course vehemently objected to this, which Kitty reiterated, "There's no point in taking a risk of reopening those wounds of yours now on such small fry robots that Eggman will more than likely send after us. Plus, we'll need you in top shape once the he sends his big ones after us."

Thankfully for Kitty, she got them to cooperate, but only halfway, as Sonic stated firmly, "If the opportunity arises, I'm going to trash some bots, wounds or no wounds."

"Same here." Amy reiterated firmly.

Realizing that was the best she was going to get from them, Kitty said while rolling her eyes, "Fine, be that way.

Less than a minute later during climb up the stairs, Eggman's first deployment finally arrived, none other than a half a dozen blue E-1002 Gun Flappers.

Due to being in front, Rouge said to the others now coming to a complete stop after spotting them, "Heads up, guys. We got company."

Kitty and the others though were ready to strike.

As Eggman had planned it, his robots would not shoot at Rouge, nor Sonic for that matter. They instead went after Kitty, Topaz and Amy, spraying ammunition at them rapidly.

Kitty and Topaz however were too elusive, quickly ducking under the bullets and then firing their own laser shots right back at them a second later before they could adjust. Their laser powered weapons easily took them out, as it didn't even take more than five shots to shoot these Gun Flappers to the ground, where they soon fizzled and blew up into pieces.

Rouge even got into the battle, using her powerful legs once she flew into the air to smack them hard to the ground.

Amy meanwhile didn't have to time to fight back after ducking herself due to the three G.U.N agents manhandling these flying machines of Eggman with ease.

Once all Gun Flappers were wiped out, Kitty said to the others, "Let's move."

However, before they could even get to the top of the stairs towards the next floor, another group of Eggman's Flappers soon came flying in, this time about a dozen Cannon ones.

Rouge again was the first to spot them, saying, "Here comes some more, everyone. Keep on your toes."

And keep on their toes they did, at least for the feline agent. This time, Kitty didn't even give them a chance to shoot at them first. The second they came flying in, she quickly pointed her M249 SAW and fired aggressively.

Again, her aim was right on target. Due to beating them to the punch, Kitty easily took out the first four of them before they could even strike. Topaz soon followed suit with her own M4A1 Carbine, firing at the next group that came near them.

Thanks to their stellar teamwork, Kitty and Topaz were easily wiping them all out within seconds. That's not to say the E-1002 Cannon Flappers didn't get a couple of shots at their opponents. They did, but were fortunately negated thanks to a certain bat.

Rouge for a second time used her flying ability and strong legs to kick them hard into oblivion the moment they attempted to fire. Their bazooka shots instead hit the walls, which ending up putting several dents in them.

Sonic and Amy could only watch from the back, as the three G.U.N agents again took care of business. However, the blue hedgehog was starting to notice a pattern here, causing him to put a hand under his chin to ponder deeply.

_These badniks of Eggman's have taken aim at Kitty, Topaz and Amy, but not me or Rouge. Now why is that exactly? _

Sonic though couldn't figure out what was going on, so he decided to try an experiment during the next battle to see if this was just a fluke or intentional.

Several seconds after the Cannon Flappers were destroyed; the five of them were again on the move, soon heading up towards the next floor.

After they were there, Rouge pointed to the right, saying, "There's the door that leads to the next floor. Let's go."

The others quickly followed Rouge, as they soon were climbing another round of stairs.

However, another group of Eggman's E-1002 robots came towards them halfway up, this time the Bomb Flappers, about a dozen and a half.

Rouge unfortunately couldn't alert them fast enough, as she could only say before they quickly attacked, "Look out! These drop bombs!"

Indeed they did. Without warning, about six of them dropped bombs onto the stairs, trying to blast their designated targets again.

Kitty quickly dove of the way once one came close to her, where she soon grabbed her weapon and began to fire back. Topaz meanwhile wasn't ready for it, as a bomb soon dropped from above and was about to hit her.

Rouge however bailed her out again, grabbing her by the shoulders and flying her out of harm's way to safety. Since she knew they wouldn't attack her, the manipulating bat used this to her advantage.

As for Amy, Sonic stood in front of her as a test to see if his theory was proven correct. To his surprise and eventual excitement, the Bomb Flapper above him didn't even attempt to attack.

_I was right. Eggman's badniks aren't attacking me, but why is that exactly?_

In spite of his suspicions, Sonic decided to take full advantage of this. After he removed Kitty's backpack from his shoulders, he quickly jumped into the air and began to use his homing attack to wreck one Bomb Flapper after another.

Kitty during this time, who was shooting at the bombs of the Flappers to cause them to blow up in their faces, soon glanced over and saw him attacking them too, making her shout before she could finish the rest of the Flappers off," Sonic, stop!"

Sonic though paid no attention to her, as he smashed every single one in his path to pieces within seconds.

Once they were taken out, Sonic dusted his hands and commented with a grin, "Man, that was too easy."

"Sonic, are you crazy?" Kitty scolded. "You could have been injured by one of those bombs."

"Relax, Kitty." Sonic replied confidently. "Eggman's robots aren't even trying to attack me."

"What?" Hearing this deeply puzzled the feline agent. "You're kidding, right?"

"I'm kidding, wrong." Sonic retorted with a frown. "I even put myself in front of one of them as a test, and they did absolutely nothing."

Kitty unfortunately hadn't seen it due to being way too busy at the moment of trying to fend them off. She then commented, trying to explain it, "It must be a fluke. There's no way Eggman wouldn't try and take you out."

Sonic then told her firmly, "I'm telling you, Eggman isn't trying to hurt me now."

"You can't be 100% sure of that." Kitty countered.

"Yes, I can." Sonic fired back. "I've been watching their attack patterns."

"Really?" Kitty said with arched eye brows.

"I'm serious here." Sonic told her. "They've been doing the same to Rouge too."

When Kitty heard that, she became very suspicious inside.

_So, Rouge isn't getting targeted either, eh? Then that can only mean one thing…_

Topaz, who was on the ground by now, saw Kitty in deep thought, making her ask, "What's on your mind?"

Not wanting to upset Topaz, Kitty replied softly, "Nothing really. I just find it odd Sonic and Rouge aren't being targeted by Eggman. It's like he's saving them for something important later on."

"Hmmm… you could be right about that." Topaz replied, now also giving this a lot of thought.

Rouge though said, trying to down play the whole situation, "You're looking too much into this. It's just a coincidence."

"I don't think so." Kitty answered. "Three times is not a coincidence."

Rouge again tried to get them off the subject, saying, "Look, let's just keep moving. We have more important things to worry about than trying to dissect this so called mystery."

"She's right." Topaz said in response. "We'll worry about this later. Right now, we need to get towards the top of the base and rescue the President."

"And Cream." Sonic reiterated.

Since Rouge did have a point, Kitty complied with this, as she and others continued their walk up the stairs. However, she was now more convinced than ever inside about her earlier suspicions.

_I'm 75% sure now Rouge is a double agent, but how do I break the news to Topaz without upsetting her? And furthermore, what exactly does Rouge have in store for all of us?_

During this time unfortunately, Eggman had overheard the whole conversation thanks to his audio receivers built into the walls, putting him on notice.

"So, that meddling furball has already figured out what I'm planning? Well, I'll show her I can be more versatile than she thinks!"

Eggman now considered attacking Sonic and Rouge just to throw Kitty's suspicions off. However, a thought then came to his head.

_Perhaps I should wait on that a bit. After all, I might give myself away in letting her know I overheard the whole conversation._

Eggman was then startled, as he overheard Decoe and Becoe ask over the video screen out of the blue, "Are you actually going to attack them, sir?"

"Do you two always have to snoop on me?" Eggman demanded, angered by their sudden appearance.

"Sorry, sir." Becoe replied hesitantly. "We were just curious."

"What I decide to do unless it concerns you is none of your business!" Eggman shot back. "You got it?"

Decoe and Becoe both recoiled back a bit, with Decoe answering, "Very well then, Doctor. Sorry to bother you."

Eggman again cut off the video feed, saying with a huff, "it's bad enough trying to deal with Sonic and his merry bunch without having assistants getting in the way with their stupid questions."

The mad doctor was soon in deep thought again. Eventually, he thought with a grin, _I think I know just the strategy to use in this case. That meddling furball will never see it coming._

Meanwhile, Kitty and the others soon made it to the next floor. Once they arrived, they saw Eggman's next wave of robots. This time, there were not any Egg Flappers, but Egg Pawn robots instead, about seven of them. Within seconds, they spotted them and went to attack.

"Looks like Eggman is starting to turn up the ante here." Kitty commented, holding her weapon tightly in her hands.

"That's fine by me." Sonic replied with a sly grin. "Let's toast these suckers!"

These Egg Pawns had rapid fire cannon blasters on their right arm, which they quickly used after targeting their designated opponent.

"Spread out, everyone!" Topaz warned.

And spread out they did. Since the Egg Pawns fired at them a rapid pace, it only made sense to confuse these robots. Even Sonic and Amy got into the battle this time, after they laid the weapons bags aside in corners of the room that were furthest away from the Egg Pawns.

Fortunately for both of them, neither of the Egg Pawns focused on the two hedgehogs at the moment since Kitty, Rouge and Topaz kept them busy for the time being.

Using solid teamwork, the three G.U.N agents took on all seven at once. Kitty used her M249 SAW to temporarily stun several of them while she ran around the room to evade their shots. Topaz and Rouge immediately took advantage of Kitty flanking them.

Topaz quickly switched to the M32 during this battle, firing several grenades at three of them directly at their heads, which in turn seriously damaged their CPU. Rouge then finished them off with a couple of screw kicks, even using her strong legs to kick them hard into the wall nearby.

Within seconds after this, Sonic and Amy soon got into the action as well.

Sonic charged up a spin dash and then blasted through two Egg Pawns, cutting right through their metal chests with ease. Amy meanwhile made excellent use of her Piko Hammer while dealing with the last two.

Sneaking up from behind while they focused on the others, Amy swung her hammer with fury. She lept high into the air and smashed one of the Pawn's directly from behind on its neck, smashing its head into its metal body. The pink hedgehog then smacked the last remaining one, hitting it directly on its chest, sending it flying into a wall nearby, where the Pawn crashed violently into the wall and began to heavily spark.

As a finishing move, Amy lept into air a second time and swung her hammer directly on its chest. Her hammer hit the heavily damaged Pawn with such power; its chest too was smashed into its internal circuit boards.

Within seconds, it exploded into pieces, where Amy looked on with satisfaction.

Sonic then said to her impressed, "Well done. You really smashed those robots up good."

Amy gave him a flirtatious look, replying passionately while walking over to him, "Aw, thanks. You're too sweet, Sonikku."

Sonic instantly blushed, as he hated her calling him that. To make things more awkward for him, he saw her looking at him intently, making the blue hedgehog recoil a bit.

Kitty thankfully snapped them to attention before anything could happen, saying, "Let's keep moving, everyone. We still have a ways to go before reaching the top."

Sonic nodded his head in agreement, sighing with relief while Amy meanwhile frowned inside. Deep down; she wanted to give him a kiss before moving on, but with more important matters at hand, she decided to let it go for now.

After Sonic and Amy grabbed the weapons' gear, Rouge again led them up to the next flight of stairs, where they soon climbed it as fast as they could. But again, Eggman had another deployment near the halfway up, ready to strike. This time, it was a different variety of Egg Flappers mixed together, with eight of each of the following types: Gun, Cannon and Bomb.

Kitty and the others again were forced to halt in their tracks due to so many in front of them.

Kitty then thought to herself, _So, Eggman is increasing his numbers every room and floor, eh? Well, fine by me!_

Moments later, the front lines, which consisted of the three different types in rows of two, instantly opened fire.

Rouge shouted a split second before they did so, "Duck!"

Everyone immediately complied to this command, except for Sonic that is. Taking advantage of the fact they wouldn't fire at him, he blasted right by them all, still carrying the gear on his shoulders at this point. Once he was past them, he dropped the weapons bag and began to attack, jumping into the air and using his homing dash to smash one Flapper after the other.

Rouge also took advantage of them not attacking her, as she again used her strong legs to kick the Flappers in front of her to scrap metal.

Seeing the opening given thanks the manipulating bat, Kitty and Topaz decided to exploit it. They then ran ahead of Rouge and grabbed their weapons, with Kitty using her M249 SAW again and Topaz her M32 MGL.

After they ran past her, Kitty told Topaz, fired your grenades at those flying robots with the bombs in its possession. It should cause a chain reaction if done correctly."

Topaz immediately followed her instructions, as she pointed her MGL at the Bomb Flappers and fired. Thanks to being quick on the trigger, she was able to get the grenades off before they could fire back.

Kitty meanwhile used her high agility to elude the bullets and bazooka shots that came towards her. Then, once she was underneath them, she pointed her M249 SAW and prepared to fire. However, her efforts this time wouldn't be necessary. Thanks to the combined efforts of Rouge, Sonic and Topaz, they easily wiped these flying machines of Eggman's within fifteen seconds. Topaz's grenade shots even did a lot of damage as well; as she aimed her weapon directly at the bombs the Bomb Flappers were carrying.

As Kitty had thought, it did indeed cause a big chain reaction, resulting in the bombs blowing up in their faces, even causing damage to the other Flappers nearby.

Kitty now let out a sigh of relief, as her evasive maneuvers had been quite dicey indeed. Seconds later, she walked over to Topaz to thank her for her help, that is until she saw something behind her. She then shouted while immediately tackling her to the ground, "Look out!"

What Kitty had seen was another Egg Flapper, a Gun type to be exact, one they didn't see from before. Thanks to her speed and quick thinking, the feline agent saved Topaz from getting hit, as the bullets came flying past them with fury.

Rouge meanwhile took care of this machine a second later, again using her strong legs to smack the flying machine to the ground hard, where it soon fizzled and blew up.

Kitty then asked Topaz after getting off of her, "You all right?"

"I'm ok." She replied. "Thanks."

Rouge however noticed something on Topaz's uniform, commenting with concern, "You really dodged a bullet there, and I mean literally."

"What do you mean by that?" Kitty inquired curious.

Within seconds, Kitty saw what Rouge was talking about. The right shoulder part of Topaz's uniform had been slightly torn due to the bullets from before.

Sonic soon saw the tear himself and let out a low whistle, commenting, "Man, that's as close of a shave as you can get."

Seeing this made Kitty realize they would need some kind of shield from here on out as soon as possible, or risk serious injury.

Topaz then said to Kitty to ease her mind, "Don't worry about me. I'm fine, really."

"Yea, but for how long?" Kitty replied suspiciously.

"I guess this means I better pick up the slack." Sonic commented again, picking the weapon's bag again.

"Sonic, I really don't think that's a good idea." Kitty told him.

"Relax, Kitty." He answered confidently. "These flying trash compactors of Eggbelly's aren't even trying to hit me, so why not take advantage of that?"

"Because I can't help but feel this is nothing more than a ploy to let our guard down." Kitty countered. "If Eggman really isn't ordering them to attack you, he must have a reason behind it."

Sonic though shrugged his shoulders, replying, "Eh, I'll worry about that later. Right now, I'm planning to trash any of the doc's bots that come my way."

Kitty soon let out a small groan of frustration, as she knew it was pointless to try and reason with him now. She then said changing the subject, "Never mind, let's just keeping moving."

"Sounds good to me." Sonic answered with a grin.

Most of them soon began to climb the stairs again, except for Rouge that is.

Kitty quickly noticed her staying still, asking, "What's the hold up, Rouge?"

"Hang on." She replied. "I need to give an update to G.U.N about our progress."

"Can't that wait until later?" Kitty inquired. "I mean, it's not we're close to rescuing the President or Cream for that matter."

"No, it cannot." Rouge replied sharply. "Now wait here. I'll be back in a minute."

Rouge then went downstairs to make the call, as Kitty soon followed her. Rouge however noticed this, saying, "Do you mind? I'd like to make this call in peace."

"I don't see why you can't make it in front of me." Kitty retorted, crossing her arms together. "It's not like you have anything to say that's super secretive anyway."

Rouge soon growled softly in frustration at her, commenting, "You know, you really are too nosy for your own good. It's a bad trait to have as a G.U.N agent."

"Or maybe I'm just making you very nervous." Kitty countered, now glaring at her. "Is that it?"

"Look, you're holding us up." Rouge shot back. "The sooner I can make this call, the sooner we can get moving again, now go wait with the others."

Kitty was very tempted inside to not budge. Nevertheless, since she felt it would do more harm than good to hold her ground this time, she complied, walking away. But as a decoy, she only walked halfway, where she peeked from behind a corner out of sight.

Rouge though thought of this possibility, as she did indeed call G.U.N first. However, as Eggman had told her from before, the communication lines were jammed. So, in order to deluge any further suspicion, she pretended to talk to the Commander for a bit.

Kitty unwisely bit on her fake conversation, as the manipulating bat had made it sound very authentic. The feline agent soon walked back to the others halfway into it, sensing that maybe she had been mistaken about Rouge this time.

Rouge however could hear her steps, realizing she had given up spying on her for the time being. She then quickly called Eggman and said harshly to him softly after he picked up, "What's the big idea? You could have seriously hurt Topaz back there."

"Well, excuse me, batgirl." Eggman retorted. "But you do know this is part of the plan, do you not?"

"You didn't tell me you were going to send a Gun Flapper to shoot her from behind." Rouge shot back.

"What difference does that make?" Eggman countered.

"Plenty, especially if you want me to lure Sonic and Kitty into your trap." Rouge replied with a frown. "Don't forget, without me, your chances of them being ambushed are a lot less."

Eggman was now silent inside, where he soon said back, "Look, I meant what I said when I told you I would go easy on Topaz in the base since she's your friend, but unless you can think of a better way to have her leave my fort safely other than by injury, I'm all ears."

Rouge unfortunately couldn't think of anything else, so she replied, "Fine, but if you dare hurt her more than necessary, you're on your own."

"Whatever." Eggman retorted. "Anyway, I suggest you get back to fulfilling your part of the plan, if you want that Chaos Emerald from me so badly that is."

"Yea, sure thing." Rouge answered with a mutter.

Before Eggman could speak again, Rouge said with a frown, "By the way, I don't appreciate you trying to kill Topaz earlier with that turret gun."

"What difference does that make?" Eggman retorted. "You got there in time to save her, did you not?"

"You had better be glad I was there when I did," Rouge shot back, "because I would have had some serious second thoughts now about not helping you carry out your latest plan."

Eggman though blew her off, saying, "Oh, quit being so over dramatic. It all worked out in the end, so you have nothing to complain about, batgirl."

Rouge didn't respond to this, but instead let out a soft huff.

"Oh yes, one more thing..." Eggman said a few seconds later. "I have some new updated information I need to share with you."

"Ok, shoot."

Eggman then told Rouge of him knowing about Agent Katswell's suspicion of her being a double agent, which made the manipulating bat ask, "And how would you know that anyway?"

Eggman chuckled, replying, "Let's just say, I have eyes and ears around this base. Anyway, to help throw off suspicion, I'm going to have my robots attack you once you get close to halfway."

"What?"

"Hear me out." Eggman said to her. "To help you escape without a scratch, I'll give you the attack pattern so you can avoid injury and delude further suspicion of you helping me behind the scenes."

"Really?" Rouge was intrigued by this. "I'm all ears then."

Eggman immediately told her the attack pattern. His robots would fire their weapons or attack in the following manner: left, middle, right, middle, right, and middle again, where it would soon repeat the pattern quickly afterward.

"Make sure you memorize this attack pattern, because I'm not going to tell you it again." Eggman reiterated.

"Relax." Rouge replied. "I've got the memory of an elephant."

Eggman then let out a huff, and retorted, "See that you do. Now then, if you'll excuse me, I have things to do."

And with that, Eggman cut off the feed. His timing couldn't have been better, as not even three seconds later; Kitty finally came back down, asking, "So, what did the Commander say?"

Trying to keep her composure, Rouge answered convincingly, "Oh, uh, just informing him of our progress mostly and asking if they're going to attack soon."

Kitty unfortunately again bought her explanation, as that was what she indeed had overheard Rouge say during her fake conversation with Commander Towers. She then asked her, "Just curious, what was that part about, "I have the memory of an elephant." anyway?"

Rouge soon cringed a bit inside, realizing she had to come up with a good excuse on the spot or risk blowing her cover. Thankfully though, she did, saying, "Oh, um, Commander Towers was informing me that we have exactly ten minutes to escape the base once we rescue the hostages. He's planning to bomb this place right after that."

"I see… Well, that's no problem. Ten minutes will be plenty of time to get out of this fortress." Kitty commented.

"Right you are." Rouge replied with a sly grin. "So, shall we get back to the job at hand?"

Kitty quickly nodded her head, saying, "Let's do it."

The two G.U.N agents then walked back up the stairs, with Rouge thinking concerned, _Good thing I was able to explain this away. If Kitty really does find out about I'm working with Eggman, she'll ruin everything for sure._

Once they met up with the others, Kitty said to them once they were near the top of the stairs, "More than likely, Eggman will robots waiting to ambush us once we go through this door."

Her comrades couldn't deny this possibility, especially since they had the last time they climbed up a flight of stairs.

"So what do you suggest we do then?" Topaz inquired.

"Simple." Kitty replied confidently. "You and I will go in first and shoot up the place aggressively with our guns the moment we enter inside. If Eggman has robots in that room, they'll be hit for sure."

"What about us?" Amy asked suspiciously. "Where do we fit in this plan of yours?"

"At exactly three seconds into our attack, you guys then come around behind us and use your special abilities, or weapon in your case and take them out. At the very least, our ammo will stun them to the point where you should easily be able to get a couple of clean shots."

"Sounds cool." Sonic replied with confidence. "Ok, let's do it."

Moments later, Kitty leaned near the door on the left side. Topaz soon crept up on right, where Kitty motioned for them to charge in on her signal. Once it was given, Kitty bursted through the metal door and instantly opened fire with fury. Topaz meanwhile followed suit a split second afterwards, as she too sprayed dozen of laser shots around the room.

As Kitty had thought, there were indeed robots waiting for them in that room, none other than more Egg Pawns. However, what she saw differently this time was the fact there were more of them than last time, about ten altogether, again equipped with machine guns. She even saw a couple of large gold plated Egg Knights mixed in, which was equipped with an arm cannon on their shoulder, as well as a metal shield.

What made this an even bigger challenge was the fact seven of the ten Pawns had shields too, which in turn deflected their attacks without so much as a scratch.

_Ah, great… _Kitty thought, starting to lose her nerve. _Eggman's thought of everything._

Three seconds later, as she had planned it, Sonic and his friends came running in, ready to attack. Sonic and Amy had left the weapons bags outside the door since they figured they'd be safer there than in the room.

"Let's toast these bots!" Sonic shouted to Amy and Rouge.

To their surprise though, they saw Eggman's robots were holding their ground, quite well too.

Sonic however wasn't deterred by in the least. Instead, he took it on as a challenge, commenting as he ran towards them, "So, you metal heads think you're pretty tough, eh? Well, we'll see about."

Kitty normally would have tried to stop him, but didn't get the chance this time due to having to take evasive action to elude the oncoming gun fire by the Egg Pawns. Even Topaz had to do this as well.

While the two agents continued to evade their attacks, Kitty told Topaz, "You'll have to use your M32 MGL again to help fend them off."

"Are you sure about that?" Topaz inquired. "We only have two dozen grenades left. Shouldn't we save them for the big guns up ahead?"

"I'm afraid we don't have a whole lot of options here." Kitty replied. "Those robots will cut us up if we don't do something and fast.

So, deciding to take a chance, Topaz quickly switched weapons and prepared to fire. Since Topaz had reloaded the weapon to full capacity during Rouge's fake call, she quickly aimed and fired three rounds at several Pawns in front of her.

But unfortunately to their horror, the grenades were mostly useless. The Egg Pawns that had shields easily absorbed the blast, only putting a small dent in it.

Kitty even almost did a jaw drop in response, as she soon remembered; _their shields must be of the same material Eggman used in the E-2000's shields. _

Topaz also looked on deeply concerned, asking, after being forced to run for cover, "Now what?"

Kitty unfortunately knew what to do, but really didn't want to use them now. With only nine left, she wanted to save at least five of them for whatever big bot Eggman was planning to use.

"I'll guess have to get some RPG's then." Kitty concluded.

"But the weapon bags are outside the door." Topaz protested. "They'll shoot you down before you can get to them."

"It's a risk I'll have to take." Kitty replied firmly. "Cover me in the meantime."

Topaz was extremely reluctant inside, but eventually decided to comply with her wishes. Kitty then ran towards the door while Topaz blocked their path to her, trying to get their attention with her weapon.

_How do I damage these robots of Eggman's with that big shield in front of them?_

Then it hit her. _Wait… a couple of them don't have shields. I'll take them out for now._

And that is Topaz did indeed. She quickly spotted the Pawns without the shield near the back of the room while continuing to elude the bullets and then quickly, but methodically opened fire, shooting her last three grenades at them.

Again, Topaz's accuracy was right on the money, as the grenades exploded violently on contact, hitting them directly between the eyes. The result of this attack severely damaged their CPU vision, even causing it to short in and out. They were even knocked to the ground flat on their backs.

Meanwhile, in the other room, Kitty thankfully made it there without getting hit, as she grabbed two RPG's from one of the weapon's bags, loading one into her RPG-7 and placing the other behind her back in a strap where she stored her two weapons.

"Ok, now to fry these meddling machines." Kitty said, now more confidently inside.

Kitty then headed back inside, where she prepared to do battle.

While this was going on, Topaz switched back to the other weapon, as she had no time to reload her M32 MGL again. But since her M4A1 Carbine was useless against the Pawns with the shield, she instead just ran for cover.

Sonic on the other hand was able to make some progress during this time, even though the Pawns that had shields were tougher to fight then he originally thought. Eventually though, he was able to use his homing attack to wear them down, now jarring loose the shield from one of their metal hands.

The same situation was even true for Rouge. During this battle, she took on the Egg Knights, using her screw kicks to break their shields. She then got a little bit cocky and tried to her strong legs to smack the Egg Knights down. But due to being better machines than the Pawns, that would not happen. Instead, they absorbed her blows one after the other.

This went on for about ten seconds, with the same results. Since Eggman still had his robots not attack her, they didn't try at all to strike back.

Moments later, before the manipulating bat could attack again, Kitty shouted to her, "Duck, Rouge!"

Rouge quickly turned her head, and there she saw Kitty in the room, quickly firing an RPG directly in her direction. In reality, Kitty was aiming for the two Egg Knights behind her.

Rouge barely ducked out of harm's way, as the RPG soared over her head and exploded with intensity. Kitty's aim was right on the money, hitting the Egg Knight on the right directly on its arm cannon, blasting it to pieces upon impact. Even the Egg Knight on the left side was inflicted with heavy damage due to the chain reaction explosion, causing the arm cannon to blow up with intensity.

Rouge then put the heavily damaged Egg Knight out of its misery, hitting it directly in the chest with another well timed screw kick.

Once that was done, Kitty came running up towards Rouge, where the female bat said to her with a frown, "You know, your plan of attack was really reckless back there."

Kitty though just shrugged her shoulders, replying, "Eh, no more than yours."

"Whatever." Rouge muttered. "Let's just take care of business for now."

However, neither of them got much of a chance since the others beat them to it.

Topaz, who had been forced to evade during this time saw fewer Pawns attack her over time. This was due to none other than Sonic and Amy again tag teaming these robots in near perfect harmony.

Within seconds, Sonic used his homing attacks to break the shields off the remaining Egg Pawns, rendering them defenseless. After that, Amy came from the back side again and let her Piko Hammer fly with fury, blindsiding one Pawn after the other, where they either hit the ground or bounced off the walls seriously damaged.

Sonic then finished the job, using a charged up spin dash to cut through them like tin foil.

With the room now cleared out, Sonic commented with a grin while giving a thumbs up, "Too easy. Piece of cake."

"Well done, guys." Kitty said to the two hedgehogs with a slight smile on her face. "You really came through in the clutch for us that time."

"No prob." Sonic replied. "Being clutch is my specialty.

Kitty then noticed the shields Sonic had broken off the Pawns laying on the ground. Seeing them eventually made her snap her fingers, thinking, _Of course! This is just what I was looking for._

The feline agent quickly grabbed a rectangular shield, pulled out a handle with the super suction from her pocket and attached it firmly on the back of the shield.

She then said pumped up, holding her new shield in hand, "Now I can use this to deflect their attacks. Finally, I can do some real damage without having to run around so much."

"Let's not get too over confident here though." Topaz reiterated. "Who knows what robots Eggman will send after us next? Not to mention we still have a good ten to twenty flights of stairs left to climb."

"Of course." Kitty said, now composing herself while nodding her head. "C'mon, guys, time's a wasting!"

And with those words, they all ran to the door, climbing the next flight of stairs, with Rouge again leading the way.

Eggman during this time happened to witness Kitty taking advantage of his destroyed Egg Pawns, making him look on a bit concerned.

"I'm going to have to change my tactics a bit here." He commented, fiddling with his mustache. "She'll be able to block most of the ammunition now, and that will be a big disadvantage to me."

After thinking it over, he said grinning, now rubbing his chin, "I think I know just what to do here. It's time I brought in my heavy hitters and really to start to wear them down."

Eggman then pressed a few buttons on his control panel, summoning them to the floors where they would be in very shortly.

Meanwhile, as Sonic and the others continued to climb the next flight of stairs, Kitty during that time reset the spring device and loaded the M32 MGL to full capacity. After it was done, Kitty told Topaz while they ran, "We'll need to try and use our big weapons sparingly from here on out in order to save them for the big battle up head if possible."

"Agreed." Topaz replied. Although, since Eggman keeps throwing bigger and stronger robots at us, we may not have a choice."

"Let's just take it one floor at a time." Kitty reiterated. "Plus, we should utilize Sonic and his friends more so we can save the weapons for later."

Topaz again agreed with her, now nodding her head.

Seconds later, they neared the top of the stairs, with another closed door in front of them.

Sonic then suggested to Kitty, "Let me lead and Amy lead the charge this time."

Amy looked on with a big dreamy smile on her face after hearing Sonic suggest this, that is until Kitty asked, "Uh, are you sure that's a good idea?"

The pink hedgehog's smile instantly turned to a frown, as Kitty soon added, "We have no idea what's in that room."

"Relax, Kitty." Sonic replied, holding his right hand up. "I'm lighting in a bottle, plus those bots aren't even attacking me."

"That doesn't mean they'll keep this up the whole time." Kitty replied firmly. "Eggman could be trying to get you to let your guard down and hit you when you least expect it, or worse…"

At this point, Kitty still couldn't shake the notion the reason why Eggman wasn't attacking him, or Rouge for that matter was because he was saving them for later.

Sonic though said to her, "Ah, you worry too much, Kitty. With Amy watching my back, I'll be just fine."

Amy again looked on with delight, as she soon stuck her tongue out at Kitty after walking over and standing next to Sonic, making the feline agent say with a deep sigh while rolling her eyes, "Oh all right, go ahead. We'll cover you this time."

"All right, juice time!" Sonic commented psyched up.

And with that, he blasted into the room with Amy following closely behind.

After they went in, Kitty thought while waiting for their part, _I do not have a good feeling about this at all._

As it turned out, her hunch would turn out to be right.

Sonic meanwhile entered the room and jumped into the air, spinning into a ball and attempting to use his homing attacks on the oncoming bad bots.

Unfortunately though, Sonic soon discovered the robots he was trying to hit were much tougher than the ones from before. This time, Eggman had summoned three Egg Hammers and four metal green Cameron robo turtles. Due to their thick metal bodies, Sonic's attacks were completely negated. Even Amy found this out after one hammer swing against the Cameron turtles' shells.

Seconds later, Kitty, along with Topaz came running into the room and opened fire, again using their M249 SAW and M4A1 Carbine. But like Sonic and Amy, their laser attacks against all of them completely useless. Kitty quickly stopped shooting after a couple of seconds since she saw it was basically being deflected off with ease.

"Now what?" Topaz asked with concern who soon stopped shooting as well.

Before she could answer, the four Cameron robo turtles quickly turned to face the two G.U.N agents and opened fire.

"Get behind me!" Kitty shouted to Topaz.

Topaz did just that, as Kitty quickly pulled out her newly acquired metal shield. Thanks to her fast thinking, the Cameron robo turtles' circular pulsate laser attack was completely blocked, as the shield absorbed any lasers that came close to hitting them.

"Do we dare use any more of our big weapons on those things?" Topaz inquired, starting to sweat a bit inside.

Kitty again was interrupted from answering, as she now glanced to her right and saw Sonic still trying to inflict damage to the Egg Hammers. In spite of the fact he continued to use his homing attack on the three of them numerous times, it was all for naught.

Moments later, she saw the Egg Hammer in the middle of the three, winding up and ready to swing, making her gasp in horror. She then shouted, "Sonic, look out!"

Sonic unfortunately had no time to react. Within a split second, the Egg Hammer in the middle swung with power and fury, hitting him directly in the chest, sending him flying into the wall above where Kitty and Topaz were standing, where he soon crashed into it violently.

"Sonic!" Kitty looked on deeply shocked and a bit baffled, _I don't believe it. They… actually attacked him this time._

Amy too unfortunately managed to see this, as she currently was dealing with the Cameron robo turtles. She fortunately was out of their target range when it had fired upon the two G.U.N agents.

Sonic meanwhile fell to the ground below, where he laid in a heap, deeply stunned, as well as in a lot of pain.

This move of the Egg Hammer's instantly set off the pink hedgehog, where she went from shock to rage. If there was one thing she deeply hated, it was seeing her beloved hero get hurt.

She then charged towards the Egg Hammer that had hurt Sonic and shouted with her Piko hammer held high, "I'll smash you into a pile of metal for this!"

Kitty saw her trying to attack it, making her shout with concern, "No, Amy, don't!"

But again, the pink hedgehog would not be deterred in the least. She quickly jumped into the air and swung her large red and yellow hammer again and again at the Egg Hammer.

Unfortunately though, like Sonic, her Piko Hammer would absolutely useless against these metal monstrosities. All her attacks did was cause a tinking sound on contact.

Amy even tried to inflict damage to the other Egg Hammers on the left and right side, but it too had the same results. Still angry at their actions, she shouted with frustration, challenging them, "C'mon, you bucket of bolts! Fight me already!"

Amy unfortunately got her wish. Within seconds, the Egg Hammer in the middle powerfully swung at her, which in turn smacked the Piko Hammer out of her hands, where it soon landed onto the ground now out of reach.

The pink hedgehog quickly gasped in horror, as she was completely powerless now in front of them

Seeing her predicament, Kitty said to Topaz, "Go tend to Sonic. I'll help Amy in the meantime."

Topaz nodded her head and did just that. Kitty meanwhile reached for her RPG-7 with her right hand while still holding the shield with her left and grabbed the RPG that she still had stored behind her back and quickly loaded it. She then aimed for the Egg Hammers near Amy and was about to fire. However, a thought soon came to her head that made her furrow her brow with suspicion.

_Wait a second… Where's Rouge? I haven't seen her once in this room yet._

Her question would soon be answered though, as the manipulating bat finally came into view, flying above her out of nowhere.

Amy meanwhile was slowly backing up, as she was now at the point of panicking. The Egg Hammers on the hand soon ganged up on her from all side and were preparing to attack the pink hedgehog simultaneously.

That fortunately though would not happen. Once Rouge was in position, she attempted another screw kick, aiming for the one in the middle.

This time, the Egg Hammer would finally be damaged, and quite severely too. It soon sparked out of control and fell to the ground, where it exploded into pieces.

Kitty could not help but be completely impressed by Rouge's leg strength to pull off such feat.

However, the other two Egg Hammers soon ganged upon the manipulating bat, as they attempted to take her out now.

Rouge though kept her composure, telling Amy nearby, who was still a bit panicked from before, "Go retrieve your Hammer. I'll keep these guys busy in the meantime."

Amy nodded her head, as she quickly ran towards her weapon.

While this was going on, Rouge began to duel with the remaining two Egg Hammers. Quickly remembering the attack pattern Eggman had told her of his machine, she followed it to the T.

As Eggman had said, they attacked in the exact same pattern he had mentioned to her earlier. When the Egg Hammers swung to the left, Rouge moved to right and visa-versa when they swung to the right. As for when they attacked the middle, Rouge just moved to the left or right, depending on which side the Egg Hammer swung at her.

Kitty meanwhile happened to watch this, and couldn't help but wonder inside how in the world she could evade every single swing they aimed at her without getting hit at least once.

Unfortunately though, the feline agent hadn't been paying attention to the Cameron turtles, as two of them now slowly, but surely crept up towards the left and right side of where she was standing, as they quickly aimed their cannons at her.

Kitty thankfully did manage to spot them before they could fire, but it was too late to adjust by this time, putting her on edge.

Thankfully for her though, she had someone looking out for her. Out of nowhere, two grenades came flying in from both sides, destroying their laser cannons on top of theirs shell on contact to bit, rendering their attacks now completely useless.

Kitty quickly turned around, and saw it was none other than Topaz, as she had no choice but to fire her M32 MGL in order to protect her comrade from harm.

Before the feline agent could thank her, Topaz shouted to Kitty, "Behind you!"

Kitty again turned her head, and there she saw the last two Cameron robot turtles about to fire at her. Topaz meanwhile aimed her M32 at these robots and prepared to take them out.

However, her efforts would not be necessary this time, as they both would get help from an unknown source, none other than the pink hedgehog herself.

By this time, Amy had retrieved her hammer and was charging to help Rouge out, that is until she saw Kitty and Topaz under fire at the moment. Since Topaz was basically tending to Sonic at the moment, she could not give her full attention until dealing with these metal turtles properly.

Amy dealt these robots of Eggman's a serious blow, as she swung her Piko Hammer with all her strength, putting a major dent in both of their laser cannons which resulted in their weapons being bent in about 45 degrees downward.

This attack of Amy's made their oncoming laser attacks completely useless, as they instead just hit the ground whenever they tried to fire.

Kitty then looked at her and said with gratitude, "Thanks."

Amy though just gave her a firm nod, replying softly, "Don't mention it."

Before she ran towards the Egg Hammers to fight them, Amy said to both G.U.N agents, "take care of my Sonikku for me in the meantime, ok?"

And with that, she ran towards the other side of the room, with her hammer firmly grasped in both arms.

Now seeing the opportunity in front of her, Kitty quickly sprang into action, running towards the wounded Cameron robo turtles where she quickly pulled out a couple of grenades from her pocket. Once in hand, she flung one at each of their damaged laser cannons as hard as she could.

Her aim again was right on target, as both exploded directly on top of their weapons, completely blasting it to bits.

With all four Cameron robo turtles now stripped of their weapons, Kitty ran towards Topaz to check on Sonic.

Sonic by this time, was sitting up, but was still a bit woozy inside, as well as groaning a bit in pain. Thankfully though, getting hit by that hammer didn't reopen his tender chest wound.

Kitty then asked Sonic after kneeling next to him on the left side, "You all right?"

"Yea, I'm fine." Sonic replied, still groaning somewhat. "I just got the wind knocked outta me."

Still seeing his fighting spirit even after that big smacking eased Kitty's concern, as she turned to Topaz and said, "C'mon, let's give Amy and Rouge a hand in taking out those big robots of Eggman's."

"You sure we ought to leave Sonic by himself for now?" Topaz inquired concerned. "That was quite a blow he took there."

"He'll be fine for the time being." Kitty replied. By this time, she had learned to accept the fact Sonic was a lot tougher than he looked.

"The important thing now," Kitty added. "Is that we don't let those robots cause anymore harm to our comrades."

Topaz couldn't argue with that, as she nodded her in agreement.

The two of them then stood up and headed towards the other side of the room, again armed with their big weapons in hand. Before they left though, Kitty said to Sonic, "Stay here. We'll be back in a bit."

In any other circumstance, Sonic would have been deeply insulted by that suggestion. But since he still was feeling the effects from before, he didn't resist this time.

Kitty and Topaz meanwhile ran towards the other side of the room and prepared to lend a hand. During their time of tending to Sonic, Rouge and Amy had their hands full, as both Egg Hammers were very tough machines to fight.

Rouge for the most part had to take evasive maneuvers due to both of the Egg Hammers swinging at her wildly in near rapid succession. Even Amy was forced to evade as well.

Thankfully though, Amy finally decided to make a break for it, as she soon ran between the legs of one Egg Hammer to try and get behind it. The Egg Hammer though quickly reacted to her move, where it soon turned around to deal with her promptly.

That move though turned out to seriously backfire, as Amy responded quickly as well, swinging at the back of its thin metal knee as hard as she could, causing the huge robot of Eggman's to lose its balance and fall flat on its back.

Rouge soon saw this well played out strategy of Amy's, saying to her after evading another hammer swing from the Egg Hammer she was dealing with, "Well done. Quick, keep this other bot busy for me in the meantime."

Amy was deeply puzzled by this suggestion of Rouge's, that is until she saw her running towards the Egg Hammer on its back and soon flew into the air.

_Oh, I get it now!_

Seeing what Rouge was about to do, Amy did as she was told, running towards the other Egg Hammer in order to draw its attention.

Once Amy was out of harm's way, Rouge unleashed another screw kick while in midair, again directly connecting onto the chest of the Egg Hammer with full force.

For a second time, Rouge's attack severely damaged another Egg Hammer. Now severely damaged internally, it soon sparked out of control and exploded with intensity.

_Two down, one to go. _Rouge thought with a grin.

Amy meanwhile during this time did her best to keep the remaining Egg Hammer busy, as she was hoping to keep it preoccupied enough for Rouge to attempt another screw kick. Even though Amy deep down wanted to destroy it herself, she knew she unable to with just her Piko Hammer.

However, Rouge would not get a chance to attempt another screw kick. While Amy jumped to the left to evade an oncoming hammer swing, she heard Kitty shout from behind, "Duck, Amy!"

Amy though turned around to see what she what the deal was, but soon found out, as she instantly ducked for cover.

What Amy had seen was Kitty charging towards the Egg Hammer with her RPG-7 in hand, where she quickly stopped within ten feet of it and fired.

Since the Egg Hammer was too busy focusing on Amy at the moment, it never got a chance to counter the RPG that came towards it.

Again, Kitty's aim was right on target, hitting the Egg Hammer directly in the middle of its chest, where the RPG exploded violently on contact.

Instantly, the heavily damaged Egg Hammer collapsed to the floor, flat on its back, now heavily sparking.

Before Kitty could survey the damage, Amy said to her in an almost scolding manner, "Hey, what's the big idea? You could've really hurt me with that thing!"

"I gave you a heads up before firing, didn't I?" Kitty countered.

"Well, yea… but that was still pretty reckless of you." Amy replied with a frown, crossing her arms together.

Kitty soon rolled her eyes again with a sigh, saying, "You know, instead of getting mad at me for such trivial matters like this, you should be showing some gratitude that I helped you out when I did."

Amy though still had too much pride in her and a bit of antagonism towards Kitty due to still feeling threatened by her being a possible love interest of Sonic's in order to do so.

Topaz then spoke up after Amy was silent for now, telling her, "C'mon, Amy. We're a team here. Let's not forget the reason why we're here in the first place."

After hearing that, Amy finally softened up some, as she looked at Kitty and replied with a heavy sigh, giving her a nod, "Thanks for your help."

Kitty gave her a nod back, responding, "You're welcome."

Rouge then cleared her throat and said to them with her hands at her hips, "If you two are quite done making up, I believe it's time we got a move on, wouldn't you agree?"

"Good point." Kitty said softly. "Ok, let's go."

Topaz quickly nodded her head in agreement and went to look for Sonic. However, by this time, he was back on his feet, even standing near the door, saying, "C'mon, step it up, guys. We got a date with Eggman."

And with that, Sonic ran up the stairs ahead of them.

"Wow, he sure got his energy back in a hurry." Topaz commented impressed.

"That's Sonic for ya." Kitty replied. "Tough as nails."

"Yea, and that's what I love about him." Amy said, sighing dreamily, holding her hands together in a passionate gesture. "

"Err… right…" Kitty could not help but feel awkward inside at Amy's facial expressions at the moment.

After Kitty and Topaz retrieved their weapons bag from the other room, the four of them, including Rouge, quickly went through the door and followed the blue hedgehog up the stairs. During their climb, Kitty inquired of the manipulating bat, "You mind me telling me why you were the last one in to help us fight?"

"I just wanted to have the element of surprise against Eggman's bots is all." Rouge replied with a straight face. "Is that so bad?"

"No, but waiting about thirty seconds do pull it off though?"

Rouge normally would have been annoyed by these questions of Kitty's, but she still managed to keep a straight face, replying again, "Hey, my methods may be a bit unorthodox, but at least I get the job done."

"That's another thing I've been meaning to ask of you." Kitty said after a brief pause.

But before Kitty could ask it, they were already near the top of the stairs.

Sonic by now was tapping his feet impatiently, muttering with a frown, "It's about time you guys got up here."

"Well, we aren't as fast as you are, don't forget." Kitty retorted, slightly annoyed by Sonic's comment.

Sonic however just blew it off, as he shrugged his shoulders.

Kitty then said to him, "So, I take it you must be feeling better to be so energetic already."

"I told you, I just got the wind knocked out of me is all." Sonic replied with a grin while giving a thumbs up. "Once I got it back, I'm ready to crank it up again."

Kitty was now at a loss for words, as she didn't know how to respond this. Eventually though, she said, shaking her head to clear her thoughts, "Anyway, Topaz and me should take the lead again, but with a new attack pattern this time."

"What do you mean by that?" Topaz inquired.

"What I mean is," Kitty explained, "Let's go into the room with our big weapons a blazing."

"But I thought you wanted to conserve them until we got near the top." Topaz argued.

Kitty then gave this matter a lot of thought. Since they only had six RPG's and sixteen grenades left in the weapons bag, she knew they would have to utilize them to perfectly in order to conserve them when needed.

"True, but I think if we can fire a few rounds at whatever robots Eggman has in the room once we enter through the door, our chances of taking them by surprise and doing a lot more damage will be much higher." Kitty replied. "Not to mention our machine guns aren't cutting it anymore now that Eggman's sending out his tougher machines to fight us."

Topaz couldn't argue with that logic. Still, she inquired, "How many should we use then?"

"I think about one RPG and two to three grenades fired around the room should be more than enough to do the job." Kitty answered.

"Yea, perhaps… but we can't attempt this strategy on every floor." Topaz said. "We'll run out of ammo before we can make it to the top."

Kitty again was in deep thought, as she now turned to Rouge and asked her, "What floor are we on now anyway?"

"Well, since I do know his base pretty well," Rouge replied. "I'd say we're easily near the halfway point by now."

Kitty soon pondered this new information over, saying within a few seconds, "Anyway, let's give this new strategy a go anyway and see how it plays out."

Topaz now nodded her head in agreement, saying, "Very well then."

Once the two G.U.N agents had their weapons in hand, Kitty told Sonic and the others after laying their weapons bags aside, "Wait about five seconds after we enter the room in order to keep from being hit by flying debris and then come rushing in."

"Can do, Kitty." Sonic replied. Since the blue hedgehog was still a bit sore inside, he had no objection to this plan of hers this time.

Moments later, Kitty and Topaz leaned on the opposite door again like from before. Kitty then motioned for them to rush in on the count of three. Once the feline agent counted to three with her hand, the two G.U.N agents blasted through the door.

Within a split second of entering in, Kitty quickly aimed her RPG-7 at the middle of the room and then fired. Topaz on other hand fired several grenades to the left and right sides of the room.

As Kitty had thought, Eggman had sent another group of robots to attack, this time much stronger ones than before. There were approximately two Heavy Hammer robots, three golden Cameron turtle bots and two Egg Knights, which again was equipped with arm cannons on their shoulders.

Kitty's strategy was indeed effective against these machines, but not as effective for her tastes. The RPG unfortunately only heavily damaged the two Egg Knights due to them having a shield in front which ended up taking the brunt of the RPG's explosion.

Even Topaz's grenade attacks did little damage. In spite of the fact she had hit each Heavy Hammer robot directly in the chest with a grenade; it only put minor dents in their armor.

_Drat! _Kitty thought frustrated. _If those meddling yellow robots weren't standing in front of those big bots behind them, I could have done some serious damage with that RPG of mine!_

Another thought then came to Kitty's mind, as she pondered, _Just how did Eggman know to place them there anyway? Did he actually anticipate we would attack with our big weapons…? Or is it possible that he…?_

That second possibility now deeply concerned Kitty, as she couldn't help feel Eggman had more of an advantage than he was letting on.

_Either he has the base bugged to overhear all of our conversations, or we have a spy within our midst…_

Kitty though could not give this matter anymore thought, as Sonic, along with Amy and Rouge came rushing into the room. Sonic then said boldly while running towards the robots, "Ok, scumbots, time for me to give you all a good old fashioned sonic smack down!"

Seeing her comrades in the room now forced the feline agent to forget about this problem and focus on the current battle at hand.

_I'll worry about this later. _Kitty thought firmly. _It's time to take care of business!_

And take care of business she would. Kitty then switched to the M249 SAW since she was currently out of RPG's due to the weapons bag being in the other room and decided to bait Eggman's robots to help Sonic and the others get into position to wipe them out.

Sonic meanwhile took full advantage of the heavily damaged Egg Knights he saw in front of him, as he quickly ran towards them and jumped high into the air and used a couple of homing attacks simultaneously within seconds to destroy these yellow bots to pieces.

Once they were wiped out, Sonic soon landed on the ground, looking on with satisfaction on this face. He was about to dust his hands, that is until he saw one of the Heavy Hammers directly behind him.

Sonic then turned around and saw it was ready to strike, as it had its hammer held high in both hands, wound up.

"Uh oh, this ain't good." He commented.

A split second later, it went to attack. Sonic though was easily able to avoid its powerful swing thanks to his super agility, running out of its range. After he cleared it, Sonic turned around and went to duel with both Heavy Hammer robots.

"Ok, bots, let's see what you're made of."

Sonic then ran between their legs, trying to bait them into attacking each other. Fortunately, they did attack, but not to the point where the Heavy Hammers robots hit each other in the process.

This routine went on for about fifteen seconds, as Sonic soon realized he wasn't getting anywhere with his current strategy.

_Man, these big bots aren't knocking each other down! _

During another run between their legs, Sonic glanced to the left and saw the Gold Cameron turtles, whom his comrades were currently battling. Seeing this soon put a grin on his face.

_That gives me an idea on how to make this battle a whole lot simpler._

After clearing their legs again, Sonic ran towards the Golden Cameron turtles, where he currently saw Kitty and Topaz using their machine guns on their laser guns in order to render theirs attacks useless.

Sonic then told them after jumping on top of one of the robo turtles, "Head for cover, guys. This is going to get dicey."

"What are you talking about?" Kitty inquired, who by now had stopped shooting after seeing the blue hedgehog in their targeted range. Even Topaz stopped firing as well.

Moments later, the two Heavy Hammers came charging towards Sonic. It was at that moment, Kitty realized what he was trying to do. So, she said to others, "Head towards the back of the room, now!"

Most of them complied, except for Amy, who inquired after the others did as they were told, "Why? We're currently in no danger in this point."

Kitty though wouldn't take no for an answer, as she grabbed the pink hedgehog quite abruptly by the right collar of her dress with her right hand and dragged Amy out of harm's way.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Amy demanded after she was in the back of the room.

Kitty though would have no time to explain, as she saw Sonic put his plan into action. The Heavy Hammer robots of Eggman's were within seconds of attacking, as they soon stood on the left and right side of him from behind. During that time, Sonic whistled towards the Golden Cameron turtles, who were stationed exactly on the left and right side of him, saying, "Yo, bots! I bet you can't hit from up here."

Sonic's taunts got their attention, as they turned away from the others and pointed their laser cannons at him.

Kitty now looked at this scene intently and could only marvel at Sonic's brilliant strategy here.

Two seconds later before the Golden Cameron Turtles could fire their lasers at him, the Heavy Hammer robots again held theirs hammers up high and wound up tightly, ready to pounce.

Sonic meticulously waited until these big robots were at the point of no return. Once they were there, in one quick motion, the blue hedgehog jumped high into the air. Exactly one split second later, the Heavy Hammers and the Golden turtle bots attempted to attack Sonic almost simultaneously.

Kitty during this time quickly pulled out her shield and said to the others, "Quick, everyone get behind me!"

Again, everyone complied, except for Amy. Kitty though would not give her a chance to protest, as she again had to drag her from behind before she could say one word to her.

After Amy was safely behind the shield, the chaos Sonic was setting up instantly ensued. Both Heavy Hammer robots on each side swung their gigantic hammers in near perfect synchronization. However, they completed missed the blue hedgehog. Instead, all three of the Gold Cameron robot turtles took the brunt of the blow from their big hammers, sending them flying all the room, where they unfortunately began to ricochet off the walls.

Even one almost came close to hitting Kitty and others. But thankfully, the feline agent's shield absorbed almost the full impact. Kitty however did feel some of the effects of having one robot turtle slam off upper part of her shield, but if left her with nothing more than a slightly bruised right wrist due to holding onto the handle on the back of her shield so tightly.

Once the turtles finally came to a stop, all three of them were now upside down, completely exposing their weak undersides.

Kitty and the others then charged towards them, as they would take full advantage of their helpless state.

Sonic on other hand soon landed on the ground and decided to give his first plan another shot.

"C'mon, you hammer heads!" Sonic challenged arrogantly while running towards them. "Try and hit me if you can!"

Sonic then ran through their legs, again heavily confusing them. Both Heavy Hammer robots were unable to pinpoint their target at all.

While this was going on, Kitty, Topaz, along with Rouge and Amy quickly finished off the weakened turtle bots within seconds. Thanks to solid teamwork, the four of them took care of business with ease.

Amy again used her Piko Hammer to crush the underside of one Gold Cameron turtle into its internal circuits, resulting in it quickly shorting circuiting and exploded into pieces.

Topaz meanwhile fired a grenade from her M32 MGL, directly hitting the underside of another Gold Cameron robo turtle with it, causing massive damage to the golden shelled machine. Like with Amy's, it too soon short circuited and blew up.

And of course, Rouge finished off the last one with her signature screw kick, instantly destroying it to bits on contact.

With them out now of commission, Kitty said to her comrades "Well done, guys. Now let's finish off those last two metal monstrosities."

"With pleasure." Amy replied firmly, clutching her hammer tightly.

And with that, they all ran towards them.

While this was going on, Sonic continued to take it to Eggman's robots. His blazing speed was just too much for them to counter.

Sonic though grew tired of running around the Heavy Hammer robots and soon stopped in front of them, saying while waving his hand towards them in a taunting gesture, "Ok, I'll stand right here and give you one chance to hit me. You think you can do it?"

By this time, the Heavy Hammer robots were heavily confused internally due to Sonic running around them so many times. However, they soon cleared their heads and quickly prepared to smash the blue hedgehog with their big hammers.

Sonic of course was ready to counter their attacks when they came near him.

Thankfully though, he wouldn't need to bother this time. Before either Heavy Hammer could attack him, two grenades came flying in from behind, hitting each directly between the eyes.

Sonic was a bit startled by this move, as he saw the grenades exploded violently on contact, where both Heavy Hammers soon lost their footing from being seriously stunned and fell to the ground flat on their back.

As an added bonus, even their helmets were knocked off from Topaz's attack.

Sonic then turned around after this and saw his friends rushing in to finish the job.

Rouge quickly jumped into the air a second later and performed another of her screw kicks, cutting the Heavy Hammer in two from the waist up. Again, her attack severely damaged this machine, causing it to short out and blow up.

Sonic meanwhile was about to finish off the other Heavy Hammer, but Amy beat him to it, saying after running by him, "Allow me, Sonikku."

Amy then ran up from behind while it was still on the ground stunned from the grenade attack and winded up her arms with her Piko Hammer held high and swung at it with all her might.

The pink hedgehog's swing was right on target, smashing it large head into its neck. Amy did this about seven times, just to make sure it was out of commission.

"Ok, I think that's enough." Kitty told Amy. "I'm sure it's dead by now."

Amy finally did stop, soon taking a few deep breaths since she had swung each time with such effort, it left her gasping for air.

Kitty also deep took a deep breath, commenting, "Well, that takes care of them." She then looked over at Sonic and said with sly smile, "Nice strategy by the way. That was quite a clever trick you pulled off back there."

Sonic though just shrugged his shoulders, replying, "Eh, it wasn't that complicated really. I knew they would try to swing at me whenever I was close by, so I decided to take full advantage of it."

"I see… well done." Kitty stated.

However, the feline agent was soon in deep thought again, as she added, "Although, I think we may have a problem on our hands."

"What do you mean?" Topaz inquired.

"When we went to attack Eggman's robots in that room," Kitty explained. "He had them in a formation where our big weapons would be mostly neutralized."

"What are exactly are you trying to say?" Amy asked, now concerned about this herself.

"It means..." Kitty replied. "That I think Eggman is somehow getting a heads up of our strategies ahead of time."

When Kitty put it that way, everyone looked on with concern on their faces, except for Rouge, who said, blowing it off again "Eh, It's not that big of a deal really."

"And what makes you so sure of that exactly?" Kitty inquired, glaring at the manipulating bat a bit suspiciously.

"Because, Catgirl." Rouge replied firmly. "Eggman is a brilliant scientist. He can make adjustments on the fly."

"But how is able to know what we're going to do when I mentioned our plans to you guys not even a minute before attacking?" Kitty inquired. "That's not something you can really plan for."

"That statement on your part right there proves to me you're still underestimating that mad scientist even now." Rouge said with a frown. "Haven't you figured out by this point you have to be ready for anything for anything he throws at you?"

Kitty though felt this was more of Rouge's subtly way of telling her she knew more about Eggman than she was really letting on.

"How do you know all of this anyway?" Kitty interrogated, crossing her arms together "Are you saying you've recently spent some time with Eggman?"

Rouge though pulled off a brilliant comeback, replying, "Yes, as a matter I have. Before I became a G.U.N agent, I was one of assistants back on Mobius."

Kitty now was at a loss for words, as Rouge added, "That's why I'm not taken surprised by what Eggman does anymore, because I know most of his tricks by heart now."

"If that's so true, then how do you explain him making adjustments within thirty seconds of us attacking?" Kitty shot back.

"Maybe it's because he has cameras and recording devices around the base that picks up our every word." Rouge countered. "Did you ever think of that?"

"Really? Are you sure it's not because someone was leaking the battle plans under our noses?" Kitty interrogated.

"I told you." Rouge shot back, deeply annoyed now by her accusations. "I was trying to take them by surprise. What's so difficult to understand about that?"

Kitty though wasn't buying that one bit.

Topaz however did, as she said to Kitty, "I think Rouge might be onto something here. It wouldn't be that farfetched to say Eggman is able to monitor our words and actions."

"Well, I guess that might be true…" Kitty replied softly, pondering it over. "Still…"

"We don't have time to worry about that now anyway." Rouge told her. "Even if he is getting a head's up on our plans, we can still beat him regardless."

Kitty again was in deep thought, as she didn't know what to think about all of this now. Rouge though interrupted her again, saying, "Look, save the thinking for later, Catwoman. Have you forgotten we have two hostages to rescue here?"

"Rouge makes an excellent point." Topaz replied. "We need to keep moving and find the President and Cream before Eggman harms them, or worse."

Kitty finally sighed heavily while rolling her eyes, answering with reluctance, "Fine. Let's go."

She and Topaz again went to pick up their weapons bag in the other room and then headed up the stairs with the others.

However, Rouge stayed behind a bit, as Eggman soon came over her radio receiver and said scolding her, "How could you tell them our my ability to overhear their conversations? Are you trying to ruin this plan of ours?"

"I didn't have a choice, doctor." Rouge replied firmly. "Would you rather she found out you're picking up most of her words now through my two way radio?"

Eggman let out a groan, saying with disgust, "That agent Katswell is too smart for her own good. I'm going to have to take that meddling cat out and soon or risk having her spoiling everything."

Rouge strangely didn't object, as she replied nonchalantly, "Do what you gotta do, Eggman. I won't stop you."

"I thought you wouldn't." Eggman said while grinning.

He then added, "Anyway, it soon won't matter if I know her strategies or not, as I have a surprise for her and the others within the next couple of floors. It's a big one to put it lightly."

"Really?" Rouge technically didn't know what he referring to since she didn't see this huge robot of his, but replied, "Just make sure you don't use it to injure Topaz."

"Relax." Eggman replied, reassuring her. "It'll mostly be going after Agent Katswell and that pink brat. Topaz won't even be a main target of its attacks."

"You better be right about that, Doctor." Rouge said firmly. "For your sake."

Eggman though didn't answer her, as he instead cut the feed to get ready for Phase two of his plan.

While was going on, Commander Towers on the main G.U.N navy ship continued to monitor the progress of his crew repairing the X-Tornado. Not surprisingly though, it was not getting fixed as fast as he would have liked it.

Seconds later, one of his soldiers ran up to him and said, "Sir, we got a situation."

"What do you mean by that exactly?" the G.U.N Commander.

"We've received word from HQ back at Central City that an unknown civilian is requesting a ride out here to help with the battle."

"What?" Commander Towers looked at him firmly and demanded, "Who dares asks such a ridiculous request from me?"

"From what I could gather, Commander, it appears to be one of the creatures from the planet Mobius."

"Which one exactly?" Commander Towers inquired further.

"I don't know his name, but he has red fur, large white gloves and a short fuse."

Commander Towers instantly recognized who the solider was referring to, replying, "Well, why didn't you say so? Quick, get him out here right away! He can be a big help to our cause."

"As you wish, sir."

Back in Eggman's base, Rouge soon caught up with the others. Fortunately for her this time, she was able to catch up to the others before Kitty could notice she wasn't among them. Once they arrived at the top of the stairs, Sonic and the others made a bizarre discovery. The door would not open this like the ones before it.

"That's strange." Topaz commented. "Why is it this door is sealed and the others weren't?"

"I can only think of one reason." Kitty replied with a frown, looking at it intently. "There must be something in the next room Eggman does not want us to find very easily."

"Yea, but what exactly?" Sonic inquired, putting a hand under his chin to think.

While this was going on, Bokkun, who happened to be on the other side of the door was planning to ambush them.

Back on the other side, Kitty deeply pondered how to open the door without having to use her weapons. She then snapped her fingers together and stated, "I think I know how to open this door.

"How?" Amy inquired with curiosity.

"With this." Kitty quickly pulled out a C4 explosive package from her weapons bag and held it up where everyone could see it.

"You really think that dinky looking box is going to break down the door?" Rouge inquired with a frown.

"Just watch." Kitty replied firmly.

The feline agent then attached the box to the door using some duct tape and soon walked back five feet. Once she was in position, she told the others sharply, "Stand back, everyone."

All her comrades complied with this since none of them wanted to risk getting hit by flying metal debris or the explosion. After they were out of range, Kitty handed Topaz the remote detonator and said, "Count to five and then press the button."

"Why do you want me to do it?" Topaz asked puzzled.

"Because, I'm going to be using this." Kitty explained, now grabbing the M32 MGL, holding it firmly in her hands.

"Why do you need to use grenades if we're going to blast the door with a C4?" Topaz inquired.

"This will be a precaution just in case the door is booby trapped." Kitty replied firmly. "It doesn't hurt to be too careful when dealing with Eggman, right?"

Topaz couldn't argue with that, so she soon started counting to five in her head and prepared to press the button.

Bokkun meanwhile was getting into position himself, as he planned to attack them using his signature kick after the door was blasted down.

Seconds later, Topaz hit the button on the remote detonator. Within moments, the C4 ignited and exploded with fury.

Unfortunately though, it didn't blast the door down, but did put a large hole in it instead.

Bokkun then waited until the explosion died down and quickly pounced, attempting his signature kick with speed and power.

However, his timing couldn't have been worse. The second he came flying through the hole in the door, Kitty had already pulled the trigger and fired a grenade into the exact same hole.

Bokkun never saw the grenade coming and was hit directly in the face, knocking him violently backwards into the next room on contact after it exploded.

Kitty and the others happened to witness this, making all of them look on deeply puzzled.

"What in the world was that thing?" Amy asked.

"I don't know." Kitty replied firmly. "Let's check it out."

They all then entered the room, climbing inside the hole as a way in. There, they saw Bokkun, who was on the floor, completely stunned with his eyes spinning.

"So, it was Eggbelly's little troublemaker!" Sonic commented with a frown.

Kitty, who never saw him before, asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"I'll tell you later." Sonic replied with a frown. "Let's just say, it was nice to see him on the receiving end of a bomb for a change."

Since Bokkun was now no longer a threat to him, Kitty and the others quickly walked past the small robot, soon examining the room they were in.

"Strange…" Kitty commented, looking all around. "The ceiling in this room is two to three times higher compared to the others."

"Yea, you're right." Topaz said. "What does that mean exactly?"

"I don't know… but I rather not find out." The feline agent answered. "Let's just keep moving."

"Good idea." Sonic chimed in.

They then headed for the next door on the left and went to open it. However, before they could, Kitty turned around a bit startled towards the middle of the room.

"What is it?" Sonic inquired.

"I thought I saw something moving." Kitty answered, looking around again intently.

"Ah, you're just too paranoid." Rouge said non chalantly.

Kitty though was not convinced of this at all, but since they needed to keep moving, she decided to let it go this time.

She and the others then entered the door. And when they did, they all found a big surprise.

"Look, it's the President." Topaz commented.

Indeed it was, as they finally found the room Eggman was keeping him in.

"Quick, untie him." Kitty ordered. "I'll call it in."

Rouge though butted in a second later, saying, "Allow me."

Kitty was a bit skeptical about Rouge wanting to do it, but decided to let her.

However, the moment Rouge tried to get in contact with G.U.N; the jamming signal was still there. Rouge tried several times to reach them, but was unable to.

"Shoot. Looks like Eggman's jammed my radio frequency." Rouge commented with a frown.

"Let me see." Kitty replied, not 100% convinced.

But unfortunately, it was as Rouge had said. All Kitty got was static.

"Great, now what?" she pondered.

Just then, it hit her. _Wait a second… Let me try something here._

Kitty now pulled out Tails chip from her pocket and attached it on a slot on her wireless radio receiver. She then tried to get in contact with G.U.N again, this time getting through.

As it turned out, Tails chip was a device that boosted headset's reception, as well as blocked any signals to jam the frequencies.

Deciding to call them in private, Kitty stepped into the room with the huge ceiling again and said, "Agent Katswell to G.U.N, do you read me?"

At first there was no answer, but eventually the G.U.N Commander picked up, saying, "Commander Tower here. What's going on, agent Katswell?"

"I'm pleased to report that we've found the President and are attempting to rescue him now." Kitty replied.

"Excellent work, agent." He said with glee. "You really came through in the clutch on this mission. Well done."

"Thank you, sir, but the mission's not over yet." She told him softly.

"What do you mean?" he inquired puzzled. "You found the President. What other reason to do have to possibly stay there any longer?"

Kitty however didn't give this question a lot of thought, as she again saw something move in the shadows that made her eyebrows arch.

"Agent Katswell, are you there?" he demanded five seconds later after she gave no answer. "Answer me."

Kitty then came on the line and answered with suspicion, "Sir, I may have to call you back."

"And why is that exactly?"

"Let's just say, sir, I don't have a good feeling anymore about this room I'm in now." Kitty explained.

The G.U.N Commander was tempted to push it, but decided not to since he was now happy with her work. "Oh, all right. When you think the room is secure again, call me back, understood?"

"10-4, Commander." Kitty replied, soon signing off.

Sonic then came out of the room, as he saw Kitty tiptoeing around the room.

"What's up?" he asked

"There's something very wrong with this room." Kitty replied. "In fact, now that I think about it, the way we rescued the President was just way too easy. It's like he was here just to bait us into letting our guard down."

Sonic now pondered this over too, as he realized Kitty was making a lot of sense.

Moments later, he saw a large metal hand creeping up on her behind, making him gasp in horror.

"Sonic, what is it?"

"Not wanting to tip off what he saw, Sonic instead swiftly reacted by running towards the mysterious machine and tried to spin dash it, shouting to Kitty a split second before attacking, "Duck!"

Kitty though was so startled by Sonic's abrupt movements, she instead turned around, where she saw him getting grabbed by the large metal hand and then thrown across the room, where he bounced off the wall and landed on the ground in a heap, seriously stunned.

"Sonic!"

Moments later, it then tried to smash the feline agent into the ground with the same metal hand. Kitty though was able to evade it thanks to her high agility, as she dived out of harm's way.

After getting back on her feet, what she had before finally came out of the shadows. It was none other than Decoe and Becoe controlling the massive E-18 Guerra-Hard of Eggman's.

Topaz and the others, including the President finally came out of the room to see what the commotion was. And when they finally did, they too gasped in horror.

"Oh my goodness! Look at that size of that thing!" Amy commented in shock, pointing at it.

"Well, well, well… lookie what we have here." Decoe commented with glee to his brother. "Dr. Eggman's trap worked exactly as planned, wouldn't you say?"

"And why wouldn't it?" Becoe replied. "After all, I knew they'd be foolish enough to try and rescue the President of Central City."

"Just who are you clowns exactly?" Kitty demanded.

"Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough." Decoe replied. "Especially after we smash you and the others into rodent parfait."

"Keep dreaming, metal heads." Sonic retorted, now standing up. "You're not turning me into any dessert."

"We shall see about that." Becoe countered. "Now let's rumble!"

Kitty by this time was feeling very uneasy inside, as she had no idea how they were going to beat such a metal monstrosity. She then looked over and saw the President and realized he was in grave danger out in the open.

Deciding to take no chances, Kitty told Amy, who was next to him, "Quick, escort the President to the room we found him in right away!"

"Why do I have to do it?" Amy protested. "I want to help Sonic and the rest of you guys."

Moments later, Decoe activated the right hand to try and smash Kitty again into the ground. Kitty though evaded it with ease, replying while running to the left, "I don't have time to argue with you about this. Just please do as I ask and get the President to safety."

When Kitty put it that way, she finally swallowed her pride and responded with a groan, "Oh, all right." She then grabbed the President by the arm and said, "This way."

The President didn't object at all to her suggestion, as he too was deeply concerned about this huge robot of Eggman's. Once they were inside the room again, Amy told him, "Wait here until we take out this thing."

The President nodded his head in agreement, with Amy running out of the room a few seconds later.

While this was going on, Decoe and Becoe continued to try and smash their targeted foe, mainly Agent Katswell. Eggman had again instructed them as a precaution before the fight to only rough up Sonic and Rouge at the worst and injure Agent Topaz to the point she would have to leave in order to get out of there and receive medical help.

Sonic though took full advantage of them not focusing mainly on him. He then said to Eggman's assistants while running around, "C'mon, hotshots, try and take me out with that big, bad bot of yours."

Deeply annoyed by Sonic's taunts, Decoe said to Becoe, "C'mon, let's smack this blue furball around for a bit."

"With pleasure." Becoe replied firmly.

The two of then tried to operate the E-18 Guerra-Hard's large metal hands to try and knock Sonic for a loop.

Sonic though was too fast for them, as he soon went underneath its metal legs to try and confuse Eggman's bots.

While the blue hedgehog kept them busy, Kitty and Topaz took full advantage of this, as they both loaded their big weapons to try and do some damage against this huge robot.

With her RPG-7 now loaded, Kitty decided to take a chance. In spite of the fact she was only down to five RPG's left, she knew it was the only way to try and weaken the E-18.

Before she took a shot though, Topaz suggested to Kitty, "Let's fire our weapons simultaneously."

"Ok by me." Kitty replied, giving her a nod.

Sonic meanwhile jumped into the air while behind them and then attempted to spin dash the back of the E-18 Guerra-Hard to try and knock it off balance. Unfortunately though, Sonic's attack was almost completely ineffective due to its huge metal mass, as he instead bounced off of it without so much as a dent.

Moments later, Kitty and Topaz quickly fired their weapons, with Topaz firing two grenades to Kitty's one RPG.

But sadly, their attacks would do little damage. The grenades barely even put a dent in its huge metal structure. As for Kitty's RPG, Decoe took it out with ease, using the E-18's right metal fist to blow it up in midair.

By now, both Kitty and Topaz began to sweat alot inside, as they realized their heavy artillery was completely useless.

"Now what?" Topaz inquired.

Rouge though answered the question for them, as she said crossing her arms together, "All right, enough of this nonsense. It's my turn now."

She then flew into the air and went to attack. However, as she did so, Kitty couldn't help but have another concerning thought cross her mind.

_Did she really just intentionally wait until we looked bad before stepping up the plate? _

This move unfortunately again only began to enhance Kitty's suspicions of whose side Rouge was really on.

Rouge meanwhile soon flew towards the head of the E-18 and commented loudly while glaring at Eggman's assistants, "You morons are better at controlling this machine than I originally thought, but let's see you try to school me with it."

"Oh, don't worry." Decoe replied. "We have ways of dealing with meddling bats like yourself."

Rouge then said softly to them where none of the others could hear her, "Ok, boys, let's put on a good show, shall we?"

"We intend to." Becoe answered, firmly grabbing his part of the controls.

Within seconds, Becoe implemented the controls of the right metal hand of the E-18 Guerra-Hard to try and swat Rouge hard.

Rouge unfortunately wasn't expecting them to attack so aggressively, as she was forced to take evasive action, just barely flying out of the way.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Rouge demanded softly.

"Just doing what the Doctor told us to do." Decoe retorted smugly.

"Which is none other than roughing up your batty hide." Becoe added a split second later.

Again, Decoe and Becoe attempted to take a swing at Rouge, this time with both metal hands. Rouge by now was fed up with these two. After evading their attempts to hit her again, the manipulating bat decided to play their game right back at them.

Rouge then used a strong flying roundhouse kick in midair to level both of Eggman's assistants onto the floor underneath them. In fact, her kick was so strong; it almost knocked them out of the Eggmobile they were using to control the E-18.

Kitty, who happened to be watching this from the ground below, soon figured out the E-18's weakness. "If we can get the top and take out those two robots of Eggman's," Kitty commented, "this huge robot should be rendered useless."

"Problem is though, who can we get besides Rouge to accomplish this task?" Topaz inquired.

"Allow me." Sonic offered with a grin.

"And how are you going to get up there exactly?" Kitty asked with arched eyebrows.

"Simple, I'll just run up there." The blue hedgehog replied confidently.

"On a 90 degree angle? Not possible." Kitty reiterated.

"Just watch me." Sonic countered, getting his feet into place to take off.

However, before he could take one step, something in the corner of his left eye caught his attention, making him slightly turn his head in order to get a better look at it while.

"What's the hold up, Sonic?" Kitty inquired.

What he saw was none than other Bokkun, creeping up from behind to ambush Kitty, quite angrily too. During the battle with the E-18, he eventually regained his focus after getting blasted with a grenade. Bokkun was quite enraged at being hit by Kitty's earlier attack to say the least, as he now was in process of retaliating.

Within moments before he could strike, Sonic quickly reacted. He then tackled her out of harm's way before Bokkun could execute another of his signature kicks, completely missing her by inches.

Instead, he went flying directly into the E-18 Guerra-Hard, hitting it directly in the frontal part of the right upper knee. This in turn caused the huge robot to almost lose its footing, as Bokkun's attack was very strong indeed. In fact, it was all Decoe and Becoe could do to right their machine again from toppling over.

While this was going on, Kitty normally would have demanded why Sonic had tackled her, but soon saw why herself.

Decoe and Becoe meanwhile saw who was responsible for what happened, as Decoe picked up Bokkun with the right metal hand and shouted angrily, "You meddling moron! You could have toppled this machine over and then we would have lost!"

"I'm sorry. I was really trying to take out Agent Katswell." Bokkun explained hesitantly. "I didn't mean to hit you guys."

As they glared at him further, Bokkun pleaded, "Please let me go so I can help you out. I can assure you that mistake won't happen again."

"You bet it won't." Decoe replied angrily.

"Because you're about to take a trip outta here!" Becoe added.

And with that statement, they flung him as hard as they could against the wall, causing the small flying robot scream in fear while he was in midair. The E-18's throw was so strong, it even Bokkun crashed directly though the wall, putting a moderate sized hole in the process.

Once he was gone, Decoe muttered, "Good riddance to that bum."

"Indeed." Becoe reiterated. "Now then, back to business."

Moments later, they saw Rouge attempting to strike again, as she was attempting another roundhouse kick aimed at their heads. Eggman's assistants though were ready for it this time, as they ducked underneath and then used the controls to grab Rouge with the left metal, where they then heaved her towards the ground below. However, they barely put any muscle into it this time since they knew she had to be kept alive for now.

Kitty, along with Topaz and the others watched in horror at Rouge's decent, but since she was thrown with very little velocity, Rouge was soon able to slow her fall with her wings and then land onto the ground safely.

After she had landed, Sonic then sprang into action, as he quickly ran up the E-18, eventually coming to a stop on the right shoulder of it.

Decoe and Becoe soon saw this, as Sonic now waved at them tauntingly, saying with arrogance, "Yo, metal heads, I bet you can't hit me up here."

"Want to bet?" Decoe countered.

Eggman's assistants then used the controls to try and smack Sonic off with the E-18's metal hands. However, that proved to be easier said than done. Thanks to his high agility, he easily evaded any attempt to swat him, as he jumped from one shoulder to the next without even breaking a sweat.

"Stop jumping around so much, hedgehog." Decoe said, now starting to lose his cool while controlling the machine.

But Sonic though wasn't about to do that. He continued this game with him, as he evaded their attempts again and again.

This soon went on for over a minute, with the exact same results as before. Sonic by this time eventually grew tired of this and decided to finally hit them where it hurt.

When they attempted to smack him again while he was on the right shoulder, Sonic countered their move, as she spun into a ball this time and hit both of Eggman's assistants with a spin dash directly to their face.

This move on Sonic's part stunned both robots hard, even almost knocking them off their feet.

"C'mon, step it up." Sonic dared them. "Hit me if you can!"

"All right, you asked for it!" Decoe shouted with rage.

The two robots then began to use the controls even more aggressively, giving it nearly everything they had to try and hit the blue hedgehog.

But again, it was all for naught. Sonic easily evaded their attacks, where he soon hit them this time with two spin dashes, one on the left and right shoulder.

Decoe and Becoe's eyes soon began to spin, as Sonic taunted them further with arrogance, "You're too slow!"

This taunt angered Eggman's assistants even more, as they gave quickly it another shot.

To no one's surprise though, Sonic schooled them once more with ease, again evading their attempts to hit him and then countered with three successive spin dashes, all in a span of three seconds.

By this point, Decoe and Becoe groaned in pain, as they slowly got back on their feet after being nearly knocked off the Eggmobile.

Sonic during this time was just laughing, as he was enjoying their suffering way too much.

Kitty meanwhile shouted to him from above with a bit of annoyance, "Ok, enough goofing around up there already, Sonic! Take them out already so we can get a move on!"

"Yea, yea, keep your shirt on." Sonic replied nonchalantly. "I'll be done with these bozos in a sec."

However, that would not happen. Since he was now too full of himself to keep his guard up, Sonic was abruptly blinded sided by the E-18 when he wasn't looking, as he was backhanded by its right metal hand from behind, sending him flying into the wall nearby and slamming into it with full force, eventually falling to the ground below Again, due to Eggman's orders, the blue hedgehog was not smacked as hard as they would have wanted to.

"Sonic!" Kitty quickly ran to aide, where she saw in a heap nearby. Amy soon ran over to him as well, looking on with horror as she did so.

Once she got to the blue hedgehog, she knelt down next to him and asked with concern on her face, "You all right?"

Sonic thankfully wasn't too hurt from the collision, but had the wind knocked out of him a second time. "Yea, I'll be all right." He muttered with a groan after sitting up. "Give me a sec here."

_Ah, great… _Kitty thought, turning to look at the huge robot with a frown on her face. _I guess it's up to Rouge now, and who knows if she can be depended on."_

However, Rouge would not be the next one to attack. Instead, it was the girl who loved him most did. Seeing Sonic banged up again greatly enraged her, as she ran towards Decoe and Becoe with rage.

"No, Amy, don't!" Kitty shouted with warning, extending her right hand towards her.

But Amy wasn't to about to listen. Once she was close enough to the E-18, she went completely berserk on it, hitting it again and again with hammer attacks on its legs to try and damage the huge E series machine.

"I'll teach you to hurt with my Sonikku!" she shouted while swinging her weapon.

However, her Piko Hammer, like the RPG and M32 before it, was completely useless. The only thing her hammer was doing was making a loud clanging sound whenever she striked.

Decoe and Becoe at first were amused by Amy's so called assault, but eventually grew tired of her temper tantrum, now deciding to put an end to it. They then picked her up abruptly with the right metal hand of the E-18 and held her tightly inside of it.

"Amy!"

Rouge quickly flew up to the head in response to this and said to Eggman's assistants, "All right, drop her and fight a real opponent already."

Amy was a bit insulted by that comment of Rouge's to say the least, as she frowned at her.

"Sorry, batty." Decoe retorted smugly. "But we have free dibs on this one."

"Yea." Becoe added. "And we're not about to pass on an opportunity to smash a rodent when given the chance."

Rouge now was torn inside. While she didn't care too much what happened to Kitty, she didn't have any personal vendetta against Amy, so she reiterated firmly, "You better let her go if you don't want me to wallop the both of you."

"That's what you think, batgirl."

Decoe then took her completely by surprise, as he used the right metal hand of the E-18 Guerra-Hard to flick the manipulating bat into the wall behind her, seriously stunning her in the process.

Kitty meanwhile finally had all she could stand, as she now ran towards the E-18, this time with her M249 SAW firmly in her hands. Her plan was to try and shoot Decoe and Becoe off of the main control area if possible.

However, any attempt to pull this off was quickly derailed. Decoe and Becoe saw what she was trying to do and easily countered it, as they used the right metal foot to try and kick the feline agent away.

Kitty though attempted ducked underneath its metal foot, but wasn't completely successful. While she escaped harm, her gun on the other hand was knocked completely out of her hands, where it hit the ground and rolled to the ground nearby out of her reach.

Kitty now gasped in horror, as she didn't how to get out of this mess. With her weapons bag out of reach as well, she was helpless to fight back with anything else.

"Aw, what's the matter, furball?" Decoe taunted. "Can't fight with your own bare hands?"

"Too bad for you." Becoe added. "Once we take care of this whiny brat, you're next."

Topaz, who had taken Kitty's place in looking after Sonic, soon saw the dilemma herself, as she grabbed her M32 and attempted to fire. That is until Decoe saw her trying to attack and said to her before she could pull the trigger, "Go on, G.U.N agent, shoot! We won't feel a thing since we'll be using this hedgehog as our shield."

Topaz instantly froze after hearing that remark, as she couldn't bear to take chance at hurting Amy.

Ten seconds soon passed, as Decoe and Becoe waited anxiously to see if Topaz would take the shot. When they finally realized she wasn't going to, Decoe said, "Enough of this nonsense. I think it's time we subtracted the number of these foolish heroes in this room, wouldn't you agree?"

"I couldn't have it said it better myself." Becoe reiterated icily.

And with those words, Eggman's assistant implemented the controls to have the metal hand squeeze tightly around Amy where it would soon crush her.

Kitty, along with Topaz looked on in deep horror, as they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Even Sonic and Rouge did likewise once their heads cleared up.

_I can't believe it. _Kitty thought, trying to not lose her composure. _I wasn't able to save her. How could this have happened?_

She then thought with her head down and eyes shut in anguish, _I'm so sorry for letting you down, Sonic. Please forgive me._

Kitty's fears of failing him though thankfully would not come to pass. Out of nowhere, she heard a loud crashing sound from behind, making her look up.

While the smoke cleared, she thought with a gasp, _Could it be…?_

Indeed it was. With blistering speed, a red blur came charging through the smoke and went after the E-18 with its right fist swinging as hard it could, aimed directly at the back of its right ankle.

Its attack was so strong; it rattled the large robot fervently all over, even almost knocking it to the ground flat on its back due to its right leg now being completely off balance. This jarring attack even caused the E-18's right metal hand to let go of Amy, where she soon fell the ground below.

Kitty though caught her in midair before she could hit the ground and injure herself further.

Decoe and Becoe meanwhile were so taken by surprise; it left them very rattled inside.

"What in the world just happened?" Decoe pondered.

"And more importantly," Becoe added. "Who dared to sneak attack us?"

That mystery was soon revealed, as a familiar echidna soon stood before them.

Kitty soon saw him too, making her look on with delight.

_He came! Knuckles actually came!_

Decoe and Becoe's reaction on the other hand was one of disgust. "So, another rodent joins their ranks, eh? No matter. He'll just be another one for us to smash up." Decoe had said that last line while smacking the E-18's fists together.

"Don't bet on it." Knuckles countered, holding his fists up high.

"All right then, tough guy." Becoe challenged. "Show us what you're made of!"

And with that, the battle was on.

Decoe and Becoe then had their machine run towards Knuckles and tried to smash the red echidna into the ground with the E-18's metal fists.

Knuckles though was ready for them, as he eluded their attacks with ease, soon jumping towards the wall nearby, where he began to climb it.

Decoe and Becoe quickly saw this and prepared to smash him into the wall. However, Knuckles had fully anticipated this. Once he was at the right height, he stopped and waited for them to attack.

"So, giving us a free shot, eh?" Decoe commented. "How nice of you."

Decoe then activated the controls, trying to use the right metal fist to crush the red echidna. But again, Knuckles was ready for them. He then jumped off the wall within one split second before the metal hand could hit him and soon went gliding towards the chest of the E-18.

Once he was in position, Knuckles again went to punch this huge machine with all its strength. His attack again was right on the money, hitting it directly in the chest. This in turn caused the E-18 to lose some of its balance due to being hit with such power.

Seeing their robot a bit wobbly, Knuckles initiated phase two of his attack. While Decoe and Becoe attempted to right their machine again, Knuckles took full advantage of their predicament, as he ran from behind after landing on the ground and then punched the E-18 again, this time directly on the back of the left ankle.

Since it was already a bit off balance, Knuckles second punch finally knocked it completely off balance, as the E-18 Guerra-Hard soon slammed onto the ground, flat on its back.

Kitty, along with Topaz and Amy, who happened to watching this battle, cheered him on loudly. Even Sonic gave his approval, as he said with a thumbs up, "Well done, rad red. Nice to see you finally get your priorities in check."

Before Knuckles could respond to his comment, Kitty walked up to him and hugged the red echidna tightly, saying softly, "Thank you. I had almost given up all hope you would come help us out."

Knuckles was again surprised by her affection, but didn't try to resist it. Instead, he smiled slightly in response, even blushing a bit.

She then added with a deep smile, now putting her hands on his shoulders while looking him in the eye, "And yet, here you are. You have no idea how happy you've made me."

Knuckles was nearly speechless by her kind words, as he could only muster up awkwardly in response, "You're welcome, Kitty."

Most of their comrades looked on a bit baffled, as they never saw Kitty this friendly with Knuckles before. Even Amy was taken a bit back by it too.

Rouge on the other hand just glared at them with a big frown on her face, as she was not thrilled to see any female, especially Kitty for that matter, cutting in on her turf.

Moments later however, Decoe and Becoe finally righted their E-18, as it was now standing on its own two legs again. This time, they were deeply enraged.

"Very clever of you, echidna." Decoe said with anger in his voice. "But you won't succeed against us if you try to pull that stunt again!"

Knuckles though by this point was more amused than intimidated by their threat. He then said to the others, "You guys go on ahead. I'll cover for you in the meantime and manhandle these two robots and their big, bad machine."

"What, by yourself?" Kitty inquired with deep concern. "But there's way you can beat this monstrosity all alone."

"Don't worry about me." Knuckles replied confidently to her. "I'll handle this E series robot of Eggman's no problem. And besides, it's time I did my part to restore peace to this world anyway."

Kitty was about to protest further, when Rouge finally spoke up, saying, "I think Catwoman here makes a good point. You'll need a partner to help you school these guys and watch your back." She then looked at Knuckles intently with a sly grin on her face, adding, "And who better for that role than me."

Knuckles was less than thrilled by this proposal of hers to say the least, replying with a frown, "No way. I don't need your help, Rouge. I'm perfectly capable of handling this robot just fine on my own, thank you."

"Oh yea, and just who's going to go up on top and trash those two robots controlling the E series then?" Rouge countered. "You?"

Rouge's argument about this point unfortunately left Knuckles without a rebuttal, as Kitty soon said, surprising the red echidna, "I think she has a point there."

"What, you can't be serious!" Knuckles protested. "You want me to work with her?"

"If it means defeating Eggman's robots, then yes." Kitty answered. "That's the most important thing now, right?"

Knuckles couldn't argue with that statement, as he said with a sigh, looking at Rouge, "All right, fine, you can help me."

Rouge flashed another sly grin at him, saying, "I guess you're not as stubborn as I originally thought."

Before he could say another word to the manipulating bat, Decoe finally was fed up with waiting and attempted to smash Knuckles into the ground again with the E-18's metal fists.

Knuckles though saw it coming, diving out of harm's way. Decoe then said angrily to them, "Enough of your silly bickering! It's time we finished this once and for all."

"With pleasure." Rouge replied firmly. She then turned to Knuckles and said, "Let's trash these bots, Knuckie."

While Knuckles hated that name she called him, he quickly overlooked it and got down to business. Before Kitty went to leave with the others, she said to Knuckles and Rouge, "Good luck, guys."

She and the others then brought out the president from the other room in order to get him completely out of the line of fire, where they soon ran towards the door with the next flight of stairs and climbed up it.

"Should we really have let them go just like that?" Becoe asked his brother with concern.

"Relax; they aren't going anywhere, at least not for a while." Decoe replied slyly. "The only way to open the next door, unless they use brute force, is with a key card. And it just so happens, I have it in my possession."

His words were indeed painfully true, as Kitty saw the next door was locked and sealed tightly. To make matters worse, this metal door was not the last one. Instead, it was almost twice as thick in density.

Kitty tapped on the door to see how thick the door really was, and was alarmed to find out it was indeed very thick.

"This door is going to take some heavy duty explosives for us to break through." She commented with a sigh.

"Can't you just use another C4 box?" Topaz suggested.

"I don't think one will be enough this time." Kitty replied. "The last door wasn't nearly as thick, and it only put a moderate sized hole in its structure."

"So what do you suggest we do then?" Sonic inquired.

Kitty soon answered after a brief pause, "Let me think."

While breaking down the door would not be an impossible feat for her, she wondered how many explosives it would take to accomplish this task. Not to mention the risk of whether it would be worth it or not was also a concern. Since she and Topaz were running low on weapons, blasting though the door with explosives may indeed be too high of a price to pay in the long run, especially since she wanted to save a few for whatever robot Eggman had in store for them up ahead.

Meanwhile, the battle between Knuckles, Rouge vs the E-18 was about to commence.

"If we double team these wannabes, we should easily overpower them." Rouge told Knuckles confidently.

"Whatever." He muttered. "Let's just take care of business, shall we?"

"Sure thing, echidna." The manipulating bat replied with a sly grin.

Moments later, the battle was finally underway. As the Decoe and Becoe charged towards them in the E-18, Rouge said to Knuckles while getting airborne by flapping her wings, "Keep them preoccupied for now. I'll sneak attack these bots from behind."

"Right."

However, Decoe and Becoe didn't focus on Knuckles first, as they considered Rouge the bigger threat. When they saw her flying towards them, Decoe used the controls on his side to try and smack her to the ground.

Rouge though was ready for it this time, easily dodging the large metal hand that came at her by flying higher into the air.

Knuckles meanwhile decided to use try Rouge's strategy, but visa-versa since she was the main target at this point. He then climbed the wall again and stopped at a designated height. Once he was there, he again jumped off the wall and glided towards the E-18 from its backside.

As soon as he was close enough, he again winded his right fist while in midair and hit the E-18 Guerra-Hard directly on the middle part of its back. Knuckles' attack again was strong enough; it rattled the E-18 all over on impact, taking Decoe and Becoe completely by surprise.

Rouge then took full advantage of the E-18 becoming a bit wobbly again and flew towards the top of it. Once she was there, she unleashed several flying roundhouse kicks to their metal heads of Decoe and Becoe, knocking them backwards against the inner shell of the Eggmobile, as well as seriously stunning them.

While they tried to get their focus back, Rouge commented with a sly chuckle while still flying in midair, "I can't imagine what Eggman was thinking when he let you two morons pilot this huge machine. He must have either very desperate or very stupid."

That comment of hers though deeply angered Eggman's assistants, as they instantly reacted by violently swinging the E-18's metal fists at her again. Even though Eggman had told them to not do anything more than rough her up, neither of them really cared about this order anymore.

Again, Rouge evaded the metals fists, using her flying ability to bob and weave when it came close to hitting her.

Knuckles meanwhile climbed the wall again during this time, climbing alot higher than before, where he stopped directly from behind at the same height as Decoe and Becoe. He then whistled at them from behind in order to try and confuse these robots.

Becoe unfortunately bit on it, causing him to turn his head and look back.

Rouge instantly took advantage of his blunder, as she flew towards them now. With only one metal hand swinging at her since each were controlling one, she easily flew past the swings by Decoe and then leveled both of them with another strong flying roundhouse kick in mid-air.

Once more, her attacks hit them hard, knocking both of Eggman's assistant onto the floor of the Eggmobile.

Rouge soon chuckled at them while they groaned in pain, commenting, "Such child's play."

However, they soon stood up, now even angrier than before. But unfortunately for them, Decoe also saw Knuckles from behind, as the red echidna said to them in a bit of taunting like manner, "Well, looks like you two bots are in a bit of a pickle."

"You attack one of us, and the other's going to swallow you alive." Rouge added, looking at them with a sly grin.

Decoe and Becoe now looked on in a bit of a panic. These two indeed had them in a very difficult spot. As they looked back and forth at each of them, Becoe inquired, "How can we take on both of these rodents on at once?"

"Or better yet," Decoe added. "How do we do so without getting blindsided?"

"I think it's time you boys admitted defeat." Rouge told them firmly. "So hand over the keycard to the following room and we'll let you live."

Decoe and Becoe though weren't about to comply with her terms, as Becoe shouted at the manipulating bat, "NEVER!

"Very well then, you asked for it." Rouge replied.

Becoe by this time was in a bit of a panic, as he didn't what to do. However, Decoe came up with a plan, saying softly to him, "Follow my lead."

Moments later, Decoe initiated the controls to make it appear he swinging the right metal fist at Knuckles. However, he was only pretending to in order to get Rouge to bite.

Rouge indeed did bite on this unfortunately, as she instantly came flying in to attack with another flying roundhouse kick. But as Decoe had planned it, he quickly had the metal fist change direction, now swinging it directly at Rouge instead.

Rouge then tried to stop once she saw this, but couldn't slowdown in time. She could only watch in horror as the metal fist came flying towards her at full speed.

Thankfully though, Knuckles was there to bail her out. Within seconds after the right metal hand came swinging at him, the red echidna quickly reacted, as he jumped off the wall and started gliding towards Eggman's robots.

Once he was close enough, Knuckles punched Decoe on the back of his head hard from behind. This in turn abruptly knocked the yellow robot forward, resulting in him bumping the lever he was controlling. The right arm in which was controlling then erratically went off course, making it completely miss Rouge. Instead, the metal fist swung towards the ground due to its controlling lever being shoved all the way forward.

Rouge looked on deeply baffled, as she did not see Knuckles make his move until just seconds ago.

Becoe though saw what he had done and said to him in anger once the red echidna was inside the Eggmobile, "You just had to spoil our fun, didn't you? Well I'm going to let you have it now."

Becoe then went to retaliate for blindsiding his brother by swinging his fists at him in order knock him out of the Eggmobile. Of course, this move on his part was completely folly. With neither robot being built to fight, Knuckles evaded the swings Becoe threw at him with complete ease.

Rouge meanwhile saw a golden opportunity and decided to go for the kill. She then flew ten feet above the E-18 and shouted to Knuckles before executing another screw kick, "Out of the way, idiot!"

Knuckles quickly looked up after she had said that, as that remark got his full his attention, even angering him a bit. However, once he saw her heading towards the Eggmobile he was currently standing in, he instantly bailed out, as he immediately jumped out of Eggmobile.

"What's the matter, echidna?" Becoe challenged while seeing him abandon it. "Giving up already?"

Unfortunately for him, Eggman's #2 assistant soon saw why Knuckles had indeed jumped ship. Seeing Rouge within seconds of striking made him scream in terror.

Decoe during this time finally cleared his head, as he asked, "Hey, what's with all the yelling?"

"Look!" Becoe shouted, pointing above.

Decoe then saw it too, as he also began to scream in a panic.

The two of them tried effortlessly to get the E-18 to counter Rouge's screw kick. But by this time, it was too little, too late. Rouge soon made direct contact with the middle part of the Eggmobile, blasting it to pieces.

Within moments, Decoe and Becoe were sent flying from the manipulating bat's attack, where they soon fell towards the ground below and slammed against it hard.

Knuckles during this time had jumped onto the wall nearby, using his climbing ability to stay in place while he watched Rouge's devastating attack on the E-18.

Speaking of the E-18, with the Eggmobile on top of it cut to pieces, this huge robot of Eggman's soon toppled over and fell to the ground in a heap. Thankfully for Decoe and Becoe, neither of them was hit by the E-18 during its fall, but their troubles were still far from over.

Seconds later, Knuckles and Rouge landed onto the ground below and soon walked over towards Eggman's assistants. With their huge robot now kaput, Decoe and Becoe looked on deeply frightened.

"Well, so much for your big, bad robot." Rouge taunted. "I guess you're out of luck now."

"What are you going to do to us?" Becoe asked with a whimper.

"Oh, not much really." Knuckles added with a grin. "Just the usual."

Before these two robots could say another word, Rouge said, "But let's get down to business first, shall we?"

"What are you talking about?" Decoe inquired.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Rouge replied firmly. "The key card to the next room, hand it over, now!"

Decoe and Becoe at this point realized it was futile to resist, so they resorted to bargaining with them now.

"If we hand it over to you, will you let us go?" Decoe asked.

"Maybe…" Rouge replied. "If you're cooperative enough."

"What?" Knuckles was about to protest further, when the manipulating bat winked at him, making the red echidna soon realize what she was doing.

Decoe then handed over the card to Rouge and said to her, trying to sweeten the deal, "From here on out, Eggman's best E-series robots will be guarding the rooms above you, so you'll need to be on full alert before entering the next one."

"Really? How nice of you to share this information with us." Rouge commented icily.

"So, does that mean you'll let us go now?" Becoe inquired.

"Let me think it over…" Rouge replied.

She then turned to Knuckles and gave him a sly grin, which made him grin as well. Moments later, both of them turned took to look at Eggman's assistants intently, making both of these robots feel uneasy inside.

"Well, after giving it a lot of thought," Rouge concluded. "My answer is… no."

"What?"

Before either of them knew could react, Knuckles and Rouge instantly charged to attack, hitting both of them with their signature moves, none other a strong uppercut and a round house kick.

Instantly, both of Eggman's assistants were sent flying towards the wall behind them, as they crashed through the hole Knuckles had busted open earlier. Like Bokkun, they too were now no longer part of this battle's equation.

"So much for those idiots." Rouge commented.

"Speaking of idiots," Knuckles said with a frown, "what was the big idea in calling me one during the battle earlier?"

"Hey, I had to find some way to get your attention so you wouldn't be hit by my screw kick, right?" Rouge retorted.

"Good point." Knuckles muttered.

Moments later, Kitty and the others finally came down to see what all the commotion was. However, they soon saw the aftermath, making all of them look on deeply impressed.

Even Sonic was as well, commenting with a whistle, "Looks like you guys really cleaned house here. Nice job."

"Eh, those bots were nothing but pushovers anyway." Rouge replied, trying to act all humble.

Knuckles then asked Kitty after a brief pause, "So, how come you guys are down here instead of advancing to the next room?"

Kitty shook her head, replying, "Well, with it being sealed tightly, I decided to think of another way to break inside it without having to use explosives."

"What's the difference?" Knuckles inquired, deeply confused. "If it's down, it's down."

"Because Topaz and I are running low on weapons." The feline agent explained. "We need to save those for when it really counts. That's why I'm considering any alternative solutions."

Rouge then walked over to her and said non chalantly, "No need to strain your brain any further, Catgirl. Here, use this."

Kitty took the item Rouge gave her and examined it closely, commenting, "It's a keycard…"

"Exactly. In fact, it's the exact key card to open the door above." Rouge explained.

"And you know this how?" Kitty inquired with arched eyebrows.

"I overheard them mention during our battle." Rouge replied. "They were stupid enough to boast about it before we fought them."

"I don't remember them mentioning anything about a keycard." Knuckles stated.

"That's because my hearing is a lot more acute than yours due to being me being a bat." Rouge told him with a sly grin.

Kitty had to admit that explanation of hers did make a lot of sense, but she still couldn't help but felt uneasy inside about this whole situation.

"So, shall we get a move on, or what, Catwoman?" Rouge suggested.

"Err… right."

She and most of the others then climbed up the stairs again, as they were soon in the exact same spot from before.

Rouge meanwhile stayed behind briefly, as she soon remembered what the E-18 was powered by upon further inspection of its remains. However, she quickly decided to come back for them later, as she realized Kitty would more than likely catch her in the act, thus ruining her plan for getting any jewels.

Meanwhile back up the stairs, the President said to Kitty before she could use the keycard, "I think I better get in contact with G.U.N and tell them I'm safe now."

"Sure thing, Mr. President." Kitty replied. "But let's make sure the room up ahead is secure first."

The President nodded his head in agreement, as Kitty soon entered the keycard into the door. Just as Rouge had told her, it unlocked the thick metal door in front of them without any difficulties.

Kitty then entered the room first with her M249 SAW in hand and pointed it around to see if any of Eggman's robots were there. By this time, she had retrieved her weapon and had firmly in her grasp again.

Surprisingly, the room was completely empty, with not a trace of Eggman's robots anywhere.

"The room is secure." Kitty commented softly. "Strange."

"What's strange about it?" Topaz inquired.

"The last room was the exact same way, but it turned out to be a trap." Kitty explained with arched eyebrows. "So I'm betting this room is probably booby trapped too."

"Good point." Topaz said.

The two G.U.N agents, along with Sonic and his friend soon did a full inspection to see if there was anything to back up Kitty's suspicions. But surprisingly again, there was nothing, not even a trap door under the floor boards.

"This is very weird." Knuckles commented. "Decoe and Becoe told me after we defeated them that Eggman's best robots were up ahead, but there's none in this room at all."

"Really?" Kitty found that statement very puzzling.

_Either Eggman knows those two spilled the beans, _Kitty thought,_ or he's playing more mind games with us._

As it turned out, it was a little of both. Eggman indeed had overheard what his two assistants had said, and he was not happy about it to say the least.

Nonetheless, the mad doctor had fully adjusted his strategy to this dilemma.

"Well, since my two stooges dared to share my secret information, I think I'll keep them guessing what I'll do next until their head spins." Eggman commented with a grin.

Eggman's new plan was to randomly attack, as he wanted to catch his enemies off guard. Since Knuckles was now part of their team, he knew just sending a bunch of robots after them would not be the best strategy in the long run.

"Anyway, I think it's time I took care of a certain feline problem of mine." Eggman muttered to himself with anger. "She's advanced too far, and I can't risk having her help Sonic when I send Metal Sonic to tear him to shreds."

Eggman now was looking for the perfect opportunity to take her out. And fortunately for him, he would soon get his chance.

With the room completely empty, the President said, "Well, since the room appears to be safe, I'll make that call now."

However, he got no signal when he attempted to make the call, as the lines were still jammed by Eggman. The President soon realized this, making him say with a sigh, "Drat. I guess Eggman must have tampered with my phone in more ways than I thought."

Kitty soon did a double take and asked, "Did you just say he tampered with your phone?"

"Well, he took it away from me after I was kidnapped." The President explained. "But then he put it back in my pocket not even three hours later. It was the strangest thing."

Kitty however knew something was up, as she said to him firmly, "Sir, I believe you should get rid of that phone right now."

"But why?" he asked puzzled.

"Because I believe Eggman did more than just tamper with it." Kitty told him.

"Like what?" the President inquired, now very curious inside.

"I don't know for sure, but I'm betting it's something that'll cause us a major headache, or worse." Kitty had said that last part of that sentence very grimly.

"Are you sure you're not overreacting just a tad?" Rouge asked. "After all, it's only a cell phone."

"Rouge, you can't honestly think Eggman didn't give it back to him without a reason." Kitty argued.

"But the line's jammed in here though." Rouge countered. "And if he was trying to have the cell phone explode to try and maim us once a call was made, it would have happened already."

"But a call wasn't made." Kitty argued again. "Like you said, the line's been jammed."

"That just proves my whole point." Rouge shot back. "What's the point of rigging the cell phone if he can't use it in here in the first place?"

_Hmmm… Good point._

Kitty had to admit, that explanation of Rouge's shot down her whole theory of Eggman trying to sabotage them within the base.

She then said after a brief pause, "I still think that phone should go. The fact Eggman had his hands on it makes it too dangerous."

The President however wouldn't agree to this proposal of hers, as he said firmly, "That phone has all of my important numbers and data in there. I can't just discard all of that information. It would take weeks to put it all back in another phone.

With the President clearly not budging on this issue, Kitty decided to let the matter go now, saying with a sigh, "Fine, as you wish, sir."

She then walked away towards an empty part of the room, telling the others, "Wait here; I'll contact G.U.N to get us the President an escort out of this base."

Sonic and his friends nodded, as she walked about five steps towards the eastern corner of the room and used her wireless radio headset to get in contact with G.U.N.

"This is agent Katswell, calling G.U.N, do you read me?"

When she got no answer in response, she said louder a few seconds later, "Repeat, this is agent Katswell, calling G.U.N. Is anyone there?"

Again, no answer. Since there was no jamming signal, she knew it wasn't due to that.

_Great, why isn't anyone picking up? _Kitty thought with suspicion. _Are they really that busy at the moment?_

Topaz meanwhile soon began to walk over towards her, as she was about to discuss with her what to do next.

However, before she could, a whirring sound from the ceiling caught her eye, making this G.U.N agent gasp in horror as she looked at it intently. It was none other than a mini turret gun that had been lowered by Eggman, aimed squarely at the back of Kitty's head.

With no time to waste, Topaz instantly rushed towards her, shouting, "Kitty, look out!"

Kitty turned her head, but had no time to see this weapon of Eggman's, as Topaz instantly tackled her to the ground, no less than a split second before the turret gun fired.

Thanks to Topaz's fast thinking, Kitty was spared from being hit. However, Topaz would not be so lucky. The moment the gun went off, Topaz screamed loudly in pain, as she clutched her right shoulder in agony.

Kitty, who had been underneath Topaz at the time, heard her friend's cries, quickly getting out from underneath her. She then saw the turret gun in the ceiling above, cutting it to pieces in anger with her M249 SAW before it could get adjust its aim and get another shot off.

Within seconds, the laser shots fired damaged the small gun enough that it soon short circuited and blew up. Unfortunately though, the damage to Topaz had already been done.

Kitty soon walked over to Topaz and saw the aftermath of her condition, putting a look of deep concern on the feline agent's face. Topaz had been shot very graphically in the right shoulder. In fact, it was so bad; the turret bullet almost went completely through it. There was even a moderate sized pool of blood on the floor as a result of this injury.

Even part of Kitty's attire was stained with blood due to being underneath her when she was shot.

Sonic and the others soon rushed to her aide, as they too saw the extent of her injuries, making them gasp in horror.

Rouge's reaction to her fate was even worse than the others. She quickly knelt by her friend's side, saying deeply frantic, "Topaz, are you all right?"

Topaz though was in too much pain to speak, as all she could was groan loudly, clinching her teeth tightly.

Kitty soon assessed the damage of her injury, saying while shaking her head, "This looks really bad. That turret bullet shredded her right shoulder quite extensively."

"No kidding." Rouge replied with a frown.

Rouge now was deeply enraged angry inside with Eggman, as she could not stand to see her friend in such agony due to his meddling.

"What do we do about this?" Amy asked with concern on her face.

"Only one thing to do." Kitty answered. "We have to help her out of here and get medical help, ASAP."

"But how can we do that?" Sonic asked. "Our transportation is in disarray, now remember?"

Kitty then began to ponder this decision over deeply. She soon said after a ten second pause, "I see only one course of action here."

"What's that?" The President asked, now speaking up.

"We're going to have to have one or two escort you and Topaz out of here to safety." Kitty said to him. "It's the only way to get you two out of here without risking further injury."

"Very well then." The President replied.

"But first, let me try to get in contact with G.U.N again."

Kitty then tried to log onto G.U.N radio frequency again, calling for anyone to answer her. This time, she got through, as Commander Towers finally picked up, saying, G.U.N Commander here, go ahead, agent Katswell."

"How come nobody picked up the last I called in?" Kitty inquired.

"Sorry about that." The G.U.N Commander replied. "I was in the middle of putting the final touches on our blitz attack."

"I see… how's that coming along?"

"It's all ready to go." He replied firmly. "Once you and the others get out, it'll be unleashed."

"Oh."

"Anyway, do you have an update for me?"

"Yes, sir, I do. I'm just calling in to let you know we were able to take care of the problem earlier. We'll be having the President escorted out of here as soon as possible."

"Excellent." The G.U.N Commander said with delight in his voice. "You made me proud today, agent Katswell. Well done. Anyway, head out of the base right away and we'll…"

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir, but another situation's come up." Kitty said.

"Now what?" the Commander asked with a groan.

"We're going to need a medical team sent to the island right away when you pick up the President." Kitty explained.

"Why? Was the President injured?"

"No, Commander, but one of our agents was." Kitty replied.

"Who exactly?" Commander Towers inquired.

"Agent Topaz, sir. She saved my life, but her right shoulder was severely injured by a hidden turret gun."

"Oh no…" The G.U.N Commander was soon in deep thought, soon asking after a pause, "Well, is she in really bad shape?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that exactly." Kitty answered. "But she is in a lot of pain and will need help being escorted off the island."

"I see…" Commander Towers then said firmly, "All right, we'll have a medical team sent to the island right away."

"Thank you, sir."

"Anyway, make sure you, Rouge, along with Sonic and his friends are standing by the shore when we come…"

"What?" Kitty hated to interrupt him, but she didn't want to hear that. "Did you say, stand by the shore with them?

"Yes. You have a problem with that?" he asked her a bit sharply.

"I'm afraid I do, sir." Kitty replied. "I can't leave now. There's another hostage still trapped in this base."

"Who?"

"Well, it's their young rabbit friend, sir." Kitty explained. "Eggman kidnapped her in order to lure them here."

"Really?"

The G.U.N Commander was again in deep thought, as he said with a heavy sigh, "Look, please don't take this the wrong way, but I think it's best you return to base now."

"What? You can't be serious." Kitty said in shock.

"I am serious." The Commander reiterated. "Maybe you didn't consider this, but the longer we let Eggman roam free, the more damage he could do to us. He must be taken out."

"And I couldn't agree with you more on that, sir, but Cream is their friend. I can't just turn my back on them and her."

"Look, it's just one Mobian rabbit." Commander Towers stated. "It's not like she's that important or helps out alot against the battle with Eggman."

Kitty now gasped in deep horror. "I can't believe you actually said that, sir. She's a living being. To leave her in the hands of Eggman to die… I just can't do that."

"Well I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I am ordering you to now." Commander Towers stated firmly. "Please don't think of me as some heartless person who doesn't care about lives. I do, more than you know. But at the same time, attempting to rescue her would be too great a price. For all we know, he'll use this time it takes for you to get up there and do a ton of damage to our ships, even killing more of our troops."

"I understand that risk, sir, but I think it's worth taking." Kitty said. "We owe it to Sonic and his friends after helping us break inside."

"Well, they can continue on to try and rescue her if they want to. They don't answer to me, but you do. So as I said before, I'm ordering you to leave the base and return to the main G.U.N ship. And just to be fair, I'll give Sonic and his friend five minutes before launching our attack to save their little rabbit friend."

"You know that's not enough time to get up there." Kitty protested loudly. "They're going to need ten minutes at least."

"I'm sorry, but that's the best I can do." Commander Towers said. "Now then, return to the ship, NOW."

Kitty at this point was deeply torn inside. She really had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but sadly, it did.

She soon remembered what Sonic had said to her.

_I think sooner or later, you may have to choose between the two of us. And when that time comes, which could very well be coming very shortly, I hope you'll make the right choice if that does happen._

Kitty soon swallowed hard inside. What she was about to do, she dreaded deeply, but couldn't back out of it now.

Commander Towers soon said after she didn't answer, "Did you hear me, Agent Katswell. I said, return to…"

"I heard you, sir." She replied sullen.

"Very well then, see you…"

"But I'm afraid I just can't comply with your order this time." Kitty stated softly, trying to keep her composure. "I'm sorry."

"YOU WHAT?" Commander Towers was completely shocked at her response to say the least. "You're choosing to disobey me?"

"Yes, I am, sir." Kitty answered.

The G.U.N Commander soon let out a loud groan, saying, "Agent Katswell, don't you do this to me. I just got through commending you for your heroism, and now you're going to risk your brownie points with me just to save their friend? Why?"

"Because, sir." Kitty replied. "I owe it to them."

"Have you forgotten whose team you're on here?" he demanded. "You don't work for them. You work for me."

"I understand that, Commander." Kitty reiterated. "But I cannot turn my back on Sonic and his friends. They have been so good to me. For me to just turn my back on them now with Cream's life at stake would be completely heartless on my part."

The Commander again let out a groan, saying, "Agent Katswell, do you remember what I said when I said I do not like agents who decide to take matters into their own hand?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Well that's exactly what you're doing now, and I am not pleased with it one bit." He stated a bit gruffly. "Do you really want to risk losing everything you've worked to earn so far?"

"I don't, sir." Kitty replied. "I want to succeed here more than you know."

"Well you won't as long as you decide they mean more to you than we do." Commander Towers told her. "The only way for you to keep this job is to do as you're told, and in this case, you're being told to return to base, right now."

"I understand what you're trying to tell me, sir, and in most situations, I would obey you on it. But this time, I just cannot." Kitty told him somberly. "I'm really sorry."

"Agent Katswell, if you dare go through with this, you will be disciplined, or worse. You understand me?"

"Then go ahead and do it already." Kitty dared him, now fed up with his threats. "If you cannot see what's more important here, then maybe I shouldn't work for you or G.U.N anymore."

"Agent Katswell!" By this time, he raised his voice at her, as his patience with Kitty was all but gone. "I'm warning you…!"

"Just give us twenty minutes, sir." Kitty suggested firmly. "What could happen?"

"You know exactly what could happen!" he shouted angrily. "Eggman will more than likely wreak havoc against us."

"As I told you earlier, it's a risk I'm willing to take." Kitty reiterated. "If you want to blow up the base with us in it then, fine, but at least give us a chance to rescue Cream first."

Deep down, Commander Towers did not want agree to this at all. However, to please the President, whom he had a feeling would side with Kitty and Sonic, replied after another long pause, "Very well. I'll give you exactly fifteen minutes to try and accomplish this task, but that's all. You take any longer than that, and you're on your own."

"I understand, sir," Kitty answered. "And I thank you for being fair with me about it."

"Yea, sure." Before he logged off, he said, "Oh, one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Don't expect any big rewards from me or anyone else at G.U.N for that matter because you chose to disobey me. I cannot give a medal of honor to an agent like yourself since it would set a bad example for the troops."

"Right now, sir, rewards are the last thing on my mind." Kitty replied. "Anyway, the President and Topaz will be near the shore shortly. Make sure a boat is there to pick them up ASAP."

"Don't you worry about that." Commander Towers reiterated. "I will personally see they are taken care of."

"Glad to hear that, sir. Talk to you later."

And with that statement, Kitty logged off, soon taking a deep breath, shaking her head sullenly.

As she walked back to check on Topaz, Kitty thought with sadness, _Sonic was right. I should have known this would have happened. You can't be a friend of one without upsetting the other._

She then thought a second later, _well, you made your choice, Kitty. You're just going to have to make the best of it now._

Deep down, Kitty felt she did make the right choice this time, but was still very saddened inside by the fact she had jeopardized her job with G.U.N by choosing to stick with Sonic and his friends.

Moments later, she made it back, as she knelt near Topaz on the left, who by this point was sitting up while Rouge cut part of Topaz's outer G.U.N attire and used it to press against the wound and stop the bleeding.

However, that would prove to be easier said than done. With her shoulder in great pain and losing blood, even a simple thing like pressing cloth against a wound appeared to be doing more than good.

Thankfully though, Topaz was still conscious, but was becoming very weak inside.

Topaz then looked at Kitty, as the feline agent said to her softly, "You saved my life. I… don't know if I could ever repay you."

"You don't have to repay me." Topaz replied weakly, looking her in the eye. "You already did when you helped comfort me after hearing the death of my fiancé. You even helped keep me focused during this battle when things were looking bad. If anything, I would say I returned the favor for all you've done for me."."

Kitty gave her a slight smile in response, though deep down was very concerned inside for her health and wellbeing.

"Anyway, I overheard a bit of the conversation between you and Commander Towers. I take it he's not pleased with you deciding to stay and help."

"That's an understatement to say the least." Kitty answered with a sigh.

Topaz was soon silent to this, as she began to think this over. Eventually, she said to the feline agent, "Well, for what it's worth, I commend you for doing the right thing. You chose to save a life instead of following orders."

Kitty though felt very little satisfaction inside for choosing to go against G.U.N's orders.

After another brief pause, "Topaz added, "In fact, a part of me wishes I could help you carry this out."

"I appreciate you supporting me," Kitty told her, "but that's not the important thing right now." "Right now, we need to get that wound of yours to stop bleeding before you pass out or worse."

Topaz nodded her head, as she said to her, now looking at Kitty with sadness in her facial expressions, "I guess this means I won't be able to avenge Tanaka's murder now…"

Kitty instantly felt sympathy for Topaz after she had said this, replying while placing a hand on her left shoulder, "Don't let this setback get to you. You were very brave and courageous to pilot a G.U.N vehicle you had hardly any experience with in order to help us reach Eggman's base."

Kitty then added after another pause, "I would say you more than honored your late fiancé's memory by putting your life on the line for the sake of peace."

"Maybe…" Topaz deep down however felt she had failed Tanaka because of this incident.

Ten seconds later, Topaz looked at Kitty intently and said to her, "Can I ask a favor from you?"

"Sure, name it." Kitty replied with a nod.

Topaz at first hesitated to say what was on her mind, since she felt it was too cruel, even for her standards, but said nonetheless with anger on her face, "When you finally get to Eggman, promise me you will make that despicable and vile scientist suffer greatly before finishing him off. I want that creep to pay in full for all the pain he caused us."

Kitty was a bit disturbed by Topaz's request, but she completely understood her feelings as well. So, in order to satisfy her, Kitty replied, "You can be assured, Eggman will get what's coming to him."

That answer did indeed satisfy Topaz, as she soon turned to Rouge, who was trying to still trying to apply the pressure on the wound without hurting her further. She then said to her bat friend, "Thanks for going to all this trouble of trying to help my wound."

"It's no trouble at all." Rouge replied. "You're my friend, and I want to do all I can to see you get the proper medical attention you need."

Hearing that made Topaz smile deeply, as she said to Rouge, "I knew you were a good person deep down. That's why I never lost faith in you when I heard rumors of you being a turncoat."

Rouge was tempted to jab at Kitty, but replied subtly instead, "The only reason anyone would think I'm a turncoat is because they haven't gotten to know me personally."

Kitty though knew she was taking a jab at her, but didn't press the issue. Instead, she said softly to Rouge for Topaz's sake, "I guess you're a better person than I thought you were."

"See? This is why you shouldn't judge a person before you get to know them." Rouge reiterated with a frown. "You could really hurt someone's feelings and then look foolish afterwards when you realize you were mistaken."

Kitty would have answered further, but didn't get the chance, as Rouge added, "Well, I think I got most of the bleeding to stop anyway."

"That's good." Topaz answered softly.

"So, what do we do now?" Knuckles inquired, now speaking up.

"Well, since we have two people who need assistance," Kitty replied. "I think two of us should go with them to escort The President and Topaz outside the base."

"All right, fair enough." Knuckles said. "So who's going to volunteer then?"

At first, nobody did, as none of them really wanted to leave the battle now. So, Kitty decided to make the suggestion for them.

"Well, I hate to say it, but I think Knuckles and Amy should go with them."

"What?" Amy was outraged by this suggestion to say the least. "Why do I have to go? Why can't you or Rouge do it instead?"

"Because, Amy, I'm the only one left who can use the weapons now." Kitty replied. "Someone has to be here to utilize them."

"Ok, fine, send Rouge then." Amy suggested. "I'm sure she'd like to help escort Topaz out anyway."

"As much as I would like to do that, we still need Rouge." Kitty explained. "She knows this base better than any of us."

"That's true, I do." Rouge replied.

Amy was about to protest this decision further, when Kitty added, now out of patience, "Look, just please do as I ask, ok? I know you want to be with Sonic and fight with him, but somebody needs to help Topaz and the President off the island."

"Well why can't Knuckles do it by himself then?" Amy argued.

"Because it'll leave them more vulnerable to attack." Kitty told her. "If one of them would end up getting kidnapped, how would he rescue them without endangering the other?"

Amy knew Kitty had a point, so she said while letting out a whiny groan, "Oh, all right. I'll go."

"Thank you." Kitty then turned to Knuckles and said softly, "I hope you don't mind me asking this of you. I know you would rather stay with us and fight, but I believe getting these two out is more important now."

"I agree." Knuckles said.

"Anyway, when they're safely on board, come back and help us, ok?"

"Sure thing, Kitty." Knuckles replied.

Moments later, Amy and Knuckles helped Topaz to her feet, but very gently, as the pain in her shoulder was still very strong and fervent.

Topaz was able to stand up without too much difficulty now, but was still very weak inside, as she couldn't walk that well, even with a shoulder that was not bleeding as prevalent as before.

Once she and the others started to head towards the stairs, Amy looked back at Sonic with sadness in her eyes and told him with a sigh, "See you later, Sonikku."

"Bye, Amy." Sonic waved his right hand softly at her after saying this. "Take care of yourself."

She then added a second later without thinking, "Make sure you and Kitty keep your eyes off of each other until I return, ok?"

"AMY!" Sonic by this point just could not handle her jealousy any longer, letting out a large groan.

Amy then realized she had broken her promise again, saying while attempting the fix the matter, "Oops, I'm sorry, Sonic. It slipped. Please don't hold this against me."

"All right, fine." He sighed, rolling her eyes. "I'll let it go… this time."

Deciding not to push her luck anymore, Amy left the room without saying another word.

Once she was out of sight, Sonic commented with another groan, "Man, won't she ever let up about that? I swear, she's like a broken record."

"She's just madly in love with you is all." Kitty explained. "Don't hold that against her."

"I guess not…" Sonic replied with another sigh.

The two of them were now silent, as Sonic added five seconds later with a grin, "You know, if she's going to actually keep thinking we're flirting with each other behind her back, then maybe we should do it."

"What?" Kitty was deeply baffled by that suggestion. "What are you saying exactly?"

"You know what I'm saying." Sonic replied, still grinning at her. "Since Amy keeps saying we're in love and such, why don't we give that idea a try?"

"You can't be serious!" Kitty by this point was starting to feel a bit freaked out inside. Even her cheeks were starting to look flushed red.

"Aw, c'mon, it'll be fun." Sonic suggested, trying to pour on the charm in his voice. "We'll go find a corner in this room, sit down together and start smooching nice and slowly. Then, we'll start caressing each other's faces, look at each other intently in the eye with passion and even say mushy things to each other."

Kitty again looked at the blue hedgehog deeply disturbed, as this whole idea of his now made her cheeks turn dark red due to her feeling completely awkward inside.

"So, what do you say, babe? You want to lock lips with this hunk of a hedgehog?" Sonic suggested, looking at her with a mushy expression on his face.

"Sonic, would you stop this nonsense already!" Kitty shouted, now exasperated. "You're totally freaking me out!"

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down, Kitty. I was only kidding around with you." Sonic replied, still having that goofy grin on his face.

"Oh..." While Kitty was relieved to hear that, she soon said with a heavy frown, "Well it wasn't funny at all!"

"Eh, perhaps not." Sonic said, shrugging his shoulder. "But hey, at least it's something interesting to think about."

_Speak for yourself._ She thought with a full blown frown on her face.

Kitty then looked at Rouge and saw she was trying to suppress a grin on her face.

"What?"

"Nothing personal, but I think it would be a riot to actually witness you and Sonic kissing." Rouge replied, now trying hard to keep from laughing out loud.

Kitty then let out a loud groan, while rolling her eyes, saying, "Look, can we please get back to the matter at hand? Did you forget already Topaz was shot and is now in a lot of pain?"

That comment quickly sobered up Rouge again, as she replied, "No, I haven't. I'm still very upset about it."

"Ok then, let's back to business, shall we?"

"Sure thing, Catwoman."

"For the last time, would you please stop calling me that?" Kitty demanded, now out of patience.

"Nope, sorry." Rouge replied firmly. "The name pretty much fits you when you think about it, so you might as well get used to it."

Kitty again was tempted to make an issue of this, but then thought better of it. So, she said to Sonic and Rouge after another pause, "Anyway, since it's only down to us three now, I'll need you guys to help carry my gear."

Since Sonic had already been helping her with that, he had no objections. Even Rouge surprisingly didn't have any either, as she replied, "No problem. If it helps us get rid of Eggman, it's worth the trouble to lug it around."

Once they grabbed her and Topaz's gear, Kitty realized she was going to have to carry Topaz's weapons. And that sadly, would be a huge undertaking.

Nevertheless, the feline agent was willing to give it a try. She soon grabbed Topaz's M32 MGL and put it in her carrying sling behind her back in the left slot while her RPG-7 was on the right. After that was done, Kitty grabbed her M4A1 carbine, carrying it her in left hand while holding the M249 SAW in her right.

"Ok, guys." She said a few seconds with firm determination in her eyes. "Let's go pay Eggman a little visit, shall we?"

Rouge nodded her head, having that same look of determination in her eyes, as she wanted a piece of Eggman herself, especially after what happened to Topaz.

Sonic on the other hand just looked on psyched up, saying, "Oh yea, now you're talking my language!"

And with that statement, the three of them headed up the next flight of stairs.

Rouge again led the way up the stairs since she was familiar with the base. Now past the halfway point, the three of them ran with vigor and purpose in their steps, eager to serve justice to the mad doctor.

Eggman during this time as usual kept a close eye on them in his control room, using his surveillance cameras to monitor their every step.

While he wasn't surprised they had made it this far, Eggman nonetheless was a bit concerned about Rouge, as he didn't know if she was still on his team or not.

_I better get in contact with that renegade bat soon and find out where she stands before it ends up biting me in the butt. _He thought.

Unfortunately for him though, with her in close contact with Kitty and Sonic, that was not possible, as he did not want to blow her cover.

_Well, she hasn't told them of our connection yet. Maybe she's still on my side. I hope…_

Moments later, another thought occurred to him. _Well, since it will be at least another ten minutes before they reach the top floor, I think I'll go plant the trap now._

Since Eggman already had the rooms ahead of them occupied with his robots, he wasn't concerned about them reaching the top before he could finish.

He then left his control room and headed towards Cream's, where he saw her looking at Eggman's TV screen he had installed for her quite closely.

She soon saw him once her door opened up, making the young rabbit look on deeply concerned.

"Enjoying the show, rodent?" Eggman asked while walking towards her.

Cream of course didn't answer, as she was too frightened say anything.

"I hope you are," Eggman said with a sly grin after a brief pause. "Because now comes the fun part."

Before Cream could ponder what he meant by that, Eggman pressed a few buttons on a remote control from his pocket. Within seconds, Metal Sonic came into the room.

Seeing this machine again terrified Cream, as she didn't know what Eggman had planned with this robot.

Eggman though made his intentions very clear, as he pressed another few buttons, where he had Metal Sonic hide in a secret revolving wall within her room.

Once that was done, Cream gasped in horror, as she instantly figured out why she was now here.

However, before she could say one word, Eggman told her in case she was considering it, "Don't bother trying to warn your little friends, rabbit. I'm going to sound proof your little tube here, making it next to impossible for them to hear what you're saying."

Eggman then made good on his word, as he again pressed a few buttons on his remote. Again within seconds, something from the ceiling soon came down and quickly engulfed her tube, none other than a wider and thicker one in radius.

Cream was dumbfounded at how Eggman was able to do all of this so quickly.

"I figured you might try to alert them of my trap." He told her. "But with this secondary tube, there's no way you'll be able to."

Seeing she was still speechless, Eggman said to her in a daring like manner, "Go ahead. Try and yell if you can."

Cream did just that, as she tried to insult him loudly, calling Eggman a vile monster.

However, to her shock, Eggman didn't seem fazed at all by it. Instead, he leaned in and said, "What's that, rabbit? I didn't quite catch that. You mind speaking up?"

Cream tried again to yell the word monster at him in order to hurt his ears as loud as she could. Unfortunately though, Eggman was not affected by this in the least. It was at that moment Cream realized he had indeed sound proofed her tube.

Seeing her speechless once more, Eggman said with another grin, "You see, my dear, I'm one step of your little friends. When they try to enter your room, I'll have Metal Sonic ambush them before you can say one word that they'll understand."

With this obstacle now in her path, Cream soon lost what little courage she had left in order to stay strong.

Eggman then said to her, "Well, with that settled, it's time for me to unleash Phase 3 of my plan. Ta ta."

After he said this to her, Eggman left the room. Once he was gone, Cream couldn't bear to watch the monitor anymore.

_Even if they do get up here to try and save me, I can't warn them. What do I do?_

While this had been going on, Kitty, along with Sonic and Rouge continued their march up the stairs. Not wanting to take any chances, the three of them entered the first room simultaneously, charging in after the count of three.

Kitty would enter first, firing both machine guns in all directions.

Two seconds later, Sonic would charge towards the right side and begin to attempt to spin dash any robots in the room. To help him keep from getting hit, he and Kitty would alternate directions, with Kitty going from left to right, and Sonic right to left.

Rouge at the same time like Sonic would come in, but fly overhead, picking her targets at random to screw kick once she was out of Kitty's ammo range.

As for the enemies, the first room they entered up was littered with about seven E-13 Guardbots.

However, they would be completely useless thanks to their combined strategy. Once Kitty entered the room, she quickly fired at all seven of them before either of them could fire back.

While they were stunned, Sonic came running in as planned, and spin dashed several of the E-13's, even knocking a few off their wheels where they were rendered useless.

Rouge then took advantage of Sonic's attack, as she picked up one on its side while flying around and used its machine gun to shoot multiple bullets at its additional models.

Her plan worked as expected. Within seconds, the bullets from the E-13 Guardbot in her possession shot up the rest with ease, tearing them to pieces

With Kitty and Sonic doing their part during this time as well, the three of them wiped out all seven E-13's within twenty five seconds.

Kitty then wiped the sweat from her brow with her right wrist, soon saying afterwards to her comrades, "Ok, let's get a move on."

And get a move on they did. Within seconds, they were already through the next door and climbed the next batch of stairs.

As before, they would enter the next room in the exact same manner. However, they found it would be completely unnecessary this time.

Two seconds after Kitty entered the room and began to spray ammunition around the room, she quickly stopped after it was completely empty. This in turn baffled her.

_Strange…_ She thought with puzzlement on her face._ I wonder why Eggman didn't have his bots occupy this room. _

Sonic and Rouge soon noticed the same thing themselves, as they too were a bit confused by it.

Nevertheless, Kitty said to them after a brief pause, "Nothing here. Let's go."

Again, they quickly headed through the door and headed up the stairs. But once they entered the room, they too found it like the one before it… completely empty.

"This is just too weird." Kitty commented with a frown.

"Indeed." Sonic chimed in. "Why isn't old Eggbelly sending more bots after us?"

"Perhaps he's trying to lull us into a false sense of security." Rouge replied.

"Maybe…" Kitty then gave this matter a lot of thought, as she couldn't figure out for sure what Eggman had planned here.

Rouge soon saw her in deep thought, saying with a frown, "You really think too much for your own good."

"It doesn't hurt to plan ahead." Kitty countered.

"Not in this case." Rouge shot back. "How can you plan ahead if Eggman's going to randomly send his robots after us?"

"Good point…" Kitty had to admit, this was one move someone could just counter so easily.

"We'll just have to be on our guard at all times." Sonic commented.

"Agreed." Kitty replied, nodding her head. "Ok, let's go."

Meanwhile, Amy and Knuckles finally made it out of the base and were now heading towards the shore with Topaz and the President in tow.

Since Topaz was in a lot of pain, they had to be careful how they got her out. In fact, Knuckles had to slowly slide down Kitty's hook shot rope still intact while carrying her in his arms. Thankfully, the red echidna was able to do this without injuring her further.

Once they were on the shore, the four of them waited for a rescue boat.

As Commander Towers had said, he had one arrive within a minute after they were out of Eggman's base.

A team of three G.U.N troops were in the boat, including a medical worker, who immediately tended to Topaz once they headed on shore.

Seeing her severely wounded shoulder, the lead medical worker commented, "I'll need to get to work on that right away."

Knuckles though said to them, "I think it's best you take care of it once she's onboard the G.U.N ship, wouldn't you agree?"

The medical worker couldn't deny this, so he said, "Very well."

He then helped Topaz and the President into the boat, where he soon asked Amy and Knuckles, "Are you two coming with us?"

"Nope." Knuckles replied, shaking his head. "I have unfinished business to take care of in there."

"That goes double for me." Amy added with a firm look on her face.

"You want to go back in that death trap?" the medical worker inquired dumbfounded. "It's suicide."

"It might be, but it has to be done." Knuckles answered firmly.

Amy soon nodded her head in agreement.

Seeing they wouldn't be talked out of it, the lead medical worker said with a heavy sigh, "Well, good luck to you then. You're gonna need it."

He had said that last sentence very grimly.

Topaz then took one last look at Knuckles and Amy, giving them a slight nod while waving goodbye with her left hand.

Amy and Knuckles soon did the same in response.

Seconds later, the G.U.N rescue boat took off, soon heading back to the main navy ship.

Once it was deep in the water, Amy and Knuckles walked back towards Eggman's base.

As for the G.U.N boat, the President soon decided to try his phone again and call his family to let him know he was now ok.

However, he again was unable to, as he saw the battery bars were near zero.

"Well that's just perfect." The President muttered. "I can't even call my loved ones out here."

"Relax, sir." The lead crew member of the boat said during the row back. "We'll get your phone fully serviceable once we we're safely on the ship."

Hearing that, the President took a deep breath, as he now waited.

During the ride back though, something Kitty had said to him earlier got him thinking.

_The fact Eggman had his hands on it makes it too dangerous_

The President now began to ponder this statement over in his head, wondering if there was some truth to what Kitty had told him.

"Something on your mind, Mr. President?" the same member inquired

"Ah, it's probably nothing." The President replied after a brief pause.

"Are you sure, sir?" the lead member asked. "If there are any issues, feel free to tell us."

The President was tempted to bring up what was troubling him, but then decided not to.

_If I tell them there might be something wrong with my phone, I might lose all of my important data on it when they attempt to fix it._

At that moment, the President decided to forget about it for now, as he was fairly certain it was safe to use.

_I don't see what Agent Katswell was so concerned about anyhow. I mean, it was just my phone. And besides, what's he going to do, have it send a signal that'll have one of our missiles blow us up?_

The President thought the chances of that happening was very small.

Back on shore, Amy and Knuckles walked towards Eggman's base, planning to climb the hook shot rope to get back inside. However, when they arrived, they found a huge surprise. The hook shot rope had been severed and was now on the ground in pieces.

When they saw this, it made both of them look on in disbelief.

Amy then threw her Piko Hammer on the ground in disgust, shouting "I cannot believe this! How did Eggman know we were down here?"

Knuckles though wasn't surprised by this, as he replied, "He must have cameras around this island, tracking our every move."

Amy couldn't deny this possibility at all, especially since Rouge had mentioned the same thing inside the base. She then asked the red echidna, "How are we going to get back up there now?"

Knuckles soon gave this matter a lot of thought, eventually replying, "Well, unless we find some rope long enough to reattach to the main door, both of us won't be able to enter inside again."

"What do you mean by both of us?" Amy inquired.

"It means, only one of us will be able to get there, particularly me."

"What?" Amy was both perplexed and angry about this statement. "What do you mean only you can get up there?"

"Well, since I can climb up the walls with my fists, it won't be too much of a challenge for me." Knuckles explained. "But for you, well… that's another story."

"So what do you suggest we do then?" Amy inquired.

"Well, I hate to tell you this, but I think you should wait for another boat and head back to the navy ship."

"WHAT?" Amy now looked at the red echidna deeply incensed. "Are you actually suggesting I retreat and no longer fight?"

"Not in so many words, but yes." Knuckles told her.

"I will do no such thing!" Amy shouted at him with rage. "My Sonikku needs me, and I must be by his side."

"Well unless you can think of a way to get back up there without actually using a rope of some kind, I'm afraid that won't happen." Knuckles countered.

Amy by this point was completely frustrated inside, thinking, _I don't believe this! I want to get back into the battle, but I can't unless I can find something to climb up in order to get inside Eggman's base._

Knuckles then told her, "Anyway, you do what you want, but as for me, I'm going back in to give them a hand."

"You're just going to abandon me here now?" Amy demanded.

"Of course not, but since you won't listen to my advice and I need to get back in the base to help Kitty and the others, what else can I do?" Knuckles countered.

Knuckles then began to climb up the base wall, as Amy yelled at him, "Knuckles, don't you dare go in without me!"

"Just do as I told you already!" Knuckles fired back. "I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice in this matter."

Amy hated to admit it, but she knew he had a point. Still, she wasn't about to accept this fate just yet.

_I'll find something to get in if it's the last thing I do!_

Meanwhile, about a hundred yards off, Decoe and Becoe watched from a distance, hidden from view.

"Heh heh, looks like we timed our sneak attack perfectly." Decoe commented. "They never even saw us cutting down their precious rope."

That's right; Decoe and Becoe were the ones responsible for cutting off access into the base again.

"Dr. Eggman will certainly have to forgive us now after our little blunder." Becoe added.

However, they were soon proven wrong about that statement, as Eggman quickly came over their radio and abruptly blurted out angrily, "Speak for yourselves!"

Decoe and Becoe instantly flinched, as Decoe said nervously, "Oh, uh, I guess you already know we're still alive."

"Of course I do, dingbot!" Eggman retorted. "Have you forgotten I have cameras everywhere?"

"Uh, right…" Decoe then tried to get on Eggman's good side, "Look, uh, Doctor, you're not mad at us for telling them some information, are you?"

"What do you think?" Eggman countered angrily.

That was a definite yes, and both of them knew it.

"Well, we made it for our mistake though, sir." Becoe said.

"What, by cutting that rope?" Eggman scoffed, eventually letting out a huff. "That's child's play."

"But we prevented them from accessing your base again." Decoe protested.

"You only kept out the pink brat," Eggman shot back. "Which isn't really that big of a deal."

"I don't follow you, sir." Decoe said. "How can Knuckles get in without a rope?"

"He has the ability to climb up walls, you moron!" Eggman shouted. "He's the one I was most concerned with, and all you did was slow him down a bit!"

"Oh… oops."

"Oops is right, dunderhead!" Eggman yelled. "But lucky for you, I have a plan that'll keep him very much out of the picture in the meantime."

"Well, that's good to know." Becoe replied.

Decoe then said, "Anyway, Doctor, there's something we'd like inquire of you."

"What is it?" he demanded gruffly.

"Well, we couldn't help but notice you let the President escape from your base." Becoe commented

"And your point is…?"

"Won't that now allow G.U.N to attack you since they no longer have any reason to hold back?" Decoe inquired.

"In most cases, you'd be right," Eggman answered. "But this is all a part of my plan to take advantage of their eagerness to rescue their precious leader."

"I don't follow you." Becoe said perplexed.

"I can clearly see that." Eggman retorted.

Eggman's assistants though overlooked his insult, with Decoe saying, "Well, could you at least tell us what you have cooked up then?"

"What, so G.U.N might be able to intercept my plans and counter them? Forget it!"

"But, Doctor Eggman…"

"I'm only going to tell you stooges this one piece of information." Eggman reiterated firmly. "The President is going to inadvertently sabotage G.U.N's plans to attack me."

"What?" Decoe and Becoe were completely baffled by this clue.

"That's all I'm telling you, so don't bother asking me for anymore hints." Eggman told them sharply."

Decoe and Becoe thankfully didn't push their luck, as Decoe asked, "Anyway, uh, sir, can you find a way to get us back inside the base now?"

"And why should I do that?" Eggman demanded.

"Well, even if all we did was keep the pink hedgehog out," Decoe stated. "That's at least something meritable on our part, right?"

Eggman was now in deep thought, as he replied after taking a deep breath, "Perhaps…"

"So, you'll let us up then?" Becoe inquired.

Eggman quickly answered after a brief pause, "No."

"What?" Becoe and Decoe were dumbfounded by this answer.

"What do you mean you won't let us back in?" Decoe inquired. "Are you still mad at us?"

"Yes, I am, but that's not my main reason for keeping you morons out now!" Eggman retorted. "If I try and let you back in, Sonic's fan girl and that stupid echidna may see it and enter the secret compartment themselves!"

"Oh…"

"And if that happens, my plan will really be in serious jeopardy then." Eggman concluded. "So, you two nitwits are your own for now. Maybe when those two are out the equation, I'll think about it."

"But, Doctor…"

"Good day to you!"

And with that, Eggman cut off the feed of the radio.

"Well, so much for that." Decoe commented angrily.

"What do we do now?" Becoe inquired.

Decoe then pondered this over, as he replied, "Well, while I'm tempted to maybe take the pink hedgehog prisoner, she'll no doubt trash us with that Piko Hammer of hers if we attempt it."

"So what do you suggest we do then?" Becoe asked again.

Decoe quickly replied after a long pause, "I have no idea…"

"Well that's just perfect." Becoe muttered. "It's like we have no choice to stay hidden in these shrubs or risk getting pummeled."

Sadly, that did indeed appear to be the only option now.


	16. An epic showdown in Eggman's Base Part 2

Meanwhile back inside the base, Kitty, along with Sonic and Rouge continued their march up the stairs towards the top floor of Eggman's base.

The journey there was not easy to say the least. In spite of the fact Eggman only had a few rooms littered with enemies in random places in order to keep them off their guard, the robots he had in there were tough opponents of his robotic army.

He had filled those rooms with none other than E-12 Behemoths and E-13 Guardbots, as he wanted to weaken them further.

Ironically though, he didn't weaken them physically, but he did tire them out. Even Kitty was forced to use some of her big weapons on the huge Behemoths in order to help her friends take them out.

Before she knew it, she was down to only three RPG's and eight grenades left after helping them wipe out the third wave of these robots. The feline agent even was forced to part ways with Topaz's M4A1, as carrying four weapons at once soon became too much for her to handle.

Thankfully for her and her comrades though, they eventually cleared the last wave of robotic enemies. With only three floors to go, Eggman decided to lull them again into a false sense of security and withdraw the rest of his army.

During this time, Eggman was unable to get in contact with Rouge. Since she was still very angry with him, she made no attempt to try and let her know where she stood now.

Eggman even could tell from her facial expressions she was extremely ticked off.

Nonetheless, he was willing to trust her that she would at least lure Kitty and Sonic into the room where Cream was being kept.

"As long as she does that, I could care less whose side she's on now." Eggman commented to himself.

Two minutes later, the three of them finally entered the floor below his control room. Once inside, Kitty looked around and saw there were three doors this time, one on the left side, one in the middle and one on the right.

"He's not here." She commented with anger on his face while clutching her M249 SAW in her hands. "He must be on the floor above."

"Agreed." Sonic replied. "I doubt he could be anywhere else now."

"The next floor's the top one." Rouge told them. "Once we arrive there, he'll have no place to hide."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Kitty inquired. "Let's get a move on."

However, before she could, Rouge said, "Wait a second…"

"What is it?" Kitty asked curiously.

"Let's check this room on the left first to see if there's anything valuable inside of it." Rouge suggested.

"Why bother with it now?" Kitty inquired with curiosity. "The door on the right is where the next flight of stairs is, and that's where we'll find Eggman."

"Couldn't agree more." Sonic chimed in. "Let's deal with him first."

"Trust me on this." Rouge replied firmly to them. "I've been in this base before, don't forget. I know most of the rooms in here by heart now."

"That still doesn't explain why you want us to go in there." Kitty countered.

"Let's just say… I have a good hunch about it." Rouge answered with a straight face.

Kitty's suspicions however remained very high, as Rouge's answer did not satisfy her in the least. Nevertheless, since the female bat seemed more of a team player after Topaz's severe shoulder injury, Kitty decided to give her the benefit of the doubt this time.

They then walked over to the door, where Rouge was about to enter it first. However, before she stepped close enough for the door to open up through the motion sensors, she stopped abruptly.

"Rouge?" This move puzzled Kitty, as well as Sonic.

"Hey, what's the hold up here?" Sonic demanded.

Rouge didn't answer them; as she was now pondering something important in her head, something that made her torn inside as well.

"Is there a problem?" Kitty asked again.

Again, Rouge didn't answer. Instead, she just looked at the door with anger on her face.

"We're not getting any younger here you know." Sonic commented, now impatient, tapping his foot several times.

"Rouge, talk to us." Kitty demanded. "Why are you being so silent all of a sudden?"

Finally, Rouge spoke up, replying softly, "Sorry, I was just… thinking about Topaz."

"Oh. Well, why now though?" Kitty inquired perplexed. "She should be in good hands at the G.U.N navy ship."

"True…"

Rouge again was in deep thought, as Kitty eventually said, a bit out of patience, "Look, if you're not going to enter this room, then let's just bypass it already."

"Same here." Sonic replied. "We've wasted enough time already standing around."

Rouge soon spoke up again, saying hesitantly, "Never mind. Let's get going."

"Good idea." Kitty stated.

Rouge then walked towards the metal door, as it quickly opened up once she was close enough. Once it was opened all the way, she and the others quickly stepped inside.

There, they all gasped in horror, as they finally saw Cream up ahead.

"Sonic, look!" Kitty exclaimed, pointing ahead.

She and the blue hedgehog quickly ran up towards her, now examining her tubular prison.

"How do we get her out of there?" Kitty pondered out loud. "Should I use one of my weapons again?"

Sonic though shook his head, as he replied, "Too risky. You'll risk injuring Cream in the process."

"Good point." Kitty replied. "So what do you suggest then?"

Sonic quickly snapped his fingers, replying, "If Rouge and I use our special attacks together, we should easily break through this thing."

Kitty nodded her head in response, as she about to turn her head and inform Rouge of his plan.

However, before she could, Cream instantly began to bang on the glass, trying desperately to warn them. Unfortunately though, they couldn't understand a word she was saying thanks to Eggman sound proofing her tube.

Even when she was shouting at the top of her lungs, they could only get bits and pieces of her words.

Kitty was deeply perplexed by Cream's behavior, as well as Sonic. Cream then began to point towards the right side of the room, basically trying as hard as she could to tell them of Eggman's trap.

Kitty and Sonic quickly looked in the direction to where she was pointing, but saw nothing but a blank wall there.

"What's gotten into her?" Sonic pondered out loud. "Is she… trying to warn us or something?"

"I don't know…"

Kitty then thought to herself with concern, _why is Cream trying so hard to get our attention? Does she know something that we don't? And furthermore, how is it we entered this room without any…_

The feline agent could not finish that thought, as she instantly felt a sinister chill seep through her spine.

"Sonic?"

"Yea, Kitty?"

"I think we need to get out of this room… right now."

"What? Why?" Sonic inquired perplexed. "We can't just leave Cream behind."

Moments later, part of the left wall began open up a few inches, as Kitty answered him, "I'm aware of that, but I have a very bad feeling about this room now. The fact we entered in and found Cream without anyone guarding her is very, very troubling."

"So? Maybe Eggman's having a robot ambush us in the next room like he did with his two stooges." Sonic said.

"Maybe…" Kitty replied softly. "But I get the feeling the trap Eggman planted for us is in this very room."

Sonic though didn't buy it, as he said in response, "You worry too much. And besides, I'll be able to handle any of Eggbelly's so called traps without even breaking a sweat."

Seeing he wouldn't budge, Kitty reluctantly decided to try his plan first, saying with heavy sigh while rolling her eyes, "Very well. We'll try your plan first."

Kitty again was about to turn to Rouge and ask her to help Sonic out, that is until the wall on the left side revolved 180 degrees, revealing Eggman's secret weapon. Since the wall had creaked loudly while it revolved, Kitty and Sonic instantly turned to see what the commotion was.

There, they finally saw glowing red eyes in the shadows, staring at them intently. Kitty and Sonic instantly froze in place, as they had no idea what was looking at them.

Kitty then aimed her M249 SAW at this mysterious being and prepared to attack it, saying to the female bat, "Looks like I was right about Eggman's trap. C'mon, Rouge, let's trash this thing."

When Rouge didn't respond for a few seconds, Kitty turned her head to look at the female bat, as she was now standing directly underneath the open door, looking at her stone faced.

"Rouge?" Kitty looked at her now completely perplexed.

A split second later, Rouge did the unthinkable to her and Sonic. She slowly walked backwards, where the door behind her soon slammed shut.

Kitty then ran towards the door and tried to get it to open. However, that was no longer possible. Eggman by this time had electronically sealed the door tightly

At that moment, Kitty figured out why Rouge wanted them in that room to begin with. Her facial expressions quickly changed from shock to complete rage

"ROUGE, YOU SADISTIC TRAITOR!" she shouted seething, banging on the door. "WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, I'M GOING TO CLAW YOUR FACE UP GOOD!"

Seconds later, Eggman came over the screen, saying to her and Sonic with glee, "I'm afraid you have more important things to worry about than that renegade bat, Catgirl."

Indeed he would be right. Within moments, Eggman's secret weapon rushed out of its hiding place and attacked. Sonic then shouted to her, "Look out!"

Metal Sonic at first targeted the feline agent, spinning into a ball to try and slam her against the wall. Kitty though evaded its attack with ease, diving towards the right side of the room out of harm's way. Once she got back onto her feet, she unleashed dozens of laser shots at Eggman's robot with her M249 SAW.

But like the E-2000's and E-12's from before, her weapon was completely useless against it, as her shots deflected off its structure. To make things even more bizarre, Kitty saw Metal Sonic try and attack her again, this time attempting to use some of her own special martial arts moves against her.

Thankfully for her though, Sonic came through in the clutch, as he spin dashed towards Metal Sonic the instant he tried to use a roundhouse kick against Kitty.

His timing was near letter perfect, hitting Metal Sonic directly in the chest, sending him crashing into the wall behind him.

"Nice try, metal faker!" Sonic taunted, now towering over it. "But there's only one true blue, and it ain't you!"

Metal Sonic however wasn't about to throw in the towel. He quickly got up and went to viciously attack the blue hedgehog, trying to hit him with a spin dash again and again.

But it would miss every time, as Sonic was way agile for Eggman's robot, jumping all over the room to evade.

Kitty during this time switched to the M32 MGL and pointed it at Metal Sonic. However, with it and Sonic into a deadlock battle, she hesitated to shoot since she couldn't risk hitting the blue hedgehog with a grenade not to mention Metal Sonic was very quick as well.

Meanwhile in the other room, Rouge pondered her next move.

_More than likely Eggman will be expecting me if I head up to his control room, so I'll take a detour and surprise him._

Rouge then headed through the middle door and ran inside once it opened. Since this room was directly below Eggman's, she would try and ambush the mad doctor by flying through an air duct that led towards it and take him out.

However, Eggman was ready for her the second she stepped through the door, saying through intercom of that room as she was about to spread her wings and fly, "Leaving so soon? I was actually hoping you would stick around for a while longer."

Rouge quickly stopped in her tracks after he said this, as Eggman continued. "Anyway, I must commend you for luring those two meddlesome pests into my trap so effortlessly. You really delivered on your part as promised, and for that I thank you."

"How about you stop yapping already and deliver on your part of the promise now, Doctor." Rouge retorted firmly with a frown.

"Ah yes… your reward…" Eggman then said after a brief pause, "Well, I guess it's only fair you get something in return for your troubles. So, I'll have it sent to this room right away. Enjoy."

Rouge didn't like the way he had said that last sentence one bit.

Seconds later, a familiar robot from before abruptly entered the room, none other than Emerl.

"Ok, Eggman, enough of your silly games." Rouge demanded. "Just hand me my Chaos Emerald already and I'll be on my way."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Eggman retorted. "But I've decided to change your reward."

"You what?"

"Instead, you get the honors of being Emerl's first victim." Eggman added icily.

Rouge then crossed her arms and stated with disgust, "I had a feeling you would try to take me out once I carried out your twisted little plan."

"Are you really that surprised?" Eggman retorted again. "You should've known by now I don't ally with rodents for very long, especially with shady bounty hunters like yourself."

Rouge though kept her composure, as Eggman told her, "But don't worry, I'm sure having Emerl to duel with will keep you preoccupied for a while until you're eventually tired out."

Eggman then had Emerl try and attack her, as the gray robot flew towards the female bat at full speed, as it attempted to level Rouge with a spinning roundhouse kick.

Rouge though easily ducked underneath its attack with ease, commenting to the mad doctor after it passed by, "You couldn't have picked a worse robot to come after me, Eggman."

"Oh yea, Batgirl?" Eggman shot back. "When you see the upgrades I've made to it after its battle at the mansion, you'll be begging for mercy."

"Oh, so you made some improvements to it recently, eh? Rouge countered." How nice of you to do that for me."

After Emerl again missed trying to hit Rouge, this time with a spin dash, Eggman shouted annoyed, "Enough of your smooth talk, batty! It's time for you to accept your fate and admit I finally outsmarted you."

Rouge then displayed a big grin on her face, retorting, "You couldn't be more wrong about that assessment, Doctor."

Seeing her still cool and composed angered Eggman even more, as he pressed a few buttons to turn up the heat on her. "Just you wait, I'll have Emerl beat that despicable grin off your face soon enough!"

Emerl again came charging towards her. Seeing this, Rouge quickly made her move, pulling out a remote control from her pocket.

"A remote? Really? You actually think that little toy is going to help you take out Emerl?" Eggman inquired icily.

"I don't need to take it out." Rouge retorted. "Especially when I can take control of it instead."

"What?"

Rouge then pressed the button on the remote control, as she quickly put her right hand up to Emerl once it was close enough and ordered, "Halt!"

To Eggman's horror, it obeyed her completely, coming to a completely stop.

"What the… How did you get it to do that?" Eggman demanded.

"I just planned ahead, Doctor." Rouge replied with a sly grin. "I had a feeling you might send this machine after me, so I did a little work on its CPU the night before as an insurance policy."

"Why you little…" Eggman by this point was seething inside, as he couldn't believe he had been outsmarted. "So that's what you meant by last night when you said you were around my base!"

"Bingo." Rouge retorted. "I guess you're not as dumb as I thought."

"I'll get you for this, batgirl!" Eggman shouted. "I'm not out bullets to take you down yet!"

"We shall see about that." Rouge answered, keeping her composure. She then said, "Now, the only question is whether to have Emerl wipe you out or have it find your Chaos Emerald first."

"Ha! If you dare send that thing after me, I'll have Metal Sonic in position to destroy it before it can lay a metal hand on my skin!" Eggman countered.

"Really?" Rouge then thought this statement over, eventually replying, "Well, in that case, I'll have Emerl here help Sonic and Kitty take out your super robot instead."

"You'll what? Why? I thought you wanted to get even with agent Katswell." Eggman stated confused.

"I do. But for right now, I have an even bigger score to settle with you, especially after what you did to Topaz!" Rouge had said that last part of the sentence with rage in her voice.

"Don't you go blaming that on me." Eggman told her. "It wasn't my fault your good friend was brave enough to take the bullet intended for that feline."

"Save your breath, Doctor." Rouge shot back angrily. "It's time for you to get your comeuppance!"

"You're a fool if you think that hunk of junk can destroy Metal Sonic." Eggman challenged with confidence in his voice. "Like I told you, Metal Sonic is ten times the robot Emerl is, so you'll just be wasting your time."

"Do not underestimate me, Doctor." Rouge countered with a firm glare. "I can do things that'll completely astound you."

And with that statement, Rouge took off with Emerl in tow.

Eggman though sealed the door in order to prevent them leaving, but that move turned out to be completely in vain. Rouge then ordered Emerl after she discovered this herself, "Take down that door."

Emerl did as he told, using a combination of Kitty's martial moves, Sonic's spin dash, where it eventually finished it off with a screw kick to the now severely weakened door, knocking a big hole into it.

With that taken care of, Rouge quickly flew through the hole with Emerl following suit.

Eggman meanwhile banged his control panel in anger a couple of seconds later, shouting, "Blast that wretched bat! She's going to wreck my whole operation if I don't do something!"

The mad doctor now pondered deeply inside what to do in order to counter Rouge's sneak attack.

"I can't send those E-12 Behemoths since they're too big to enter the room, and it'll be pointless to send the E-13's in there since they were all taken out so easily from before, so what can I send after them?"

Seconds later, the mad doctor got a grin on his face, saying while snapping his fingers, "Of course, the Egg Flappers! Since they'll be too busy focusing on Metal Sonic to notice them, I'll have these flying robots fly in from above and ambush their furry hides when they least expect it."

He then said to himself with a grin, "Eggman, you still got it."

Meanwhile in another part of the base, Knuckles during this time had climbed up the wall and got back through the main door, where he soon began to climb up the stairs again.

However, Eggman was ready for this, as he had several of his emergency metal doors slam shut on both sides, trapping the red echidna.

Knuckles soon discovered this dilemma himself, as he had tried effortlessly to try and break through them. Unfortunately though, that would not happen, as the doors were super thick and reinforced.

While he struggled to break them down, Eggman soon taunted him over the PA, saying, "Keep punching away, Knucklehead. You're going to be stuck here a while before your fists can break down my metal doors."

As Eggman laughed at him heartily, Knuckles said with disgust, "Drat! I should have known he would have anticipated me trying to get back up there! Now what?"

He then turned to look at the door from behind, soon concluding to himself, "I'll have to break this door down since the exit is nearby."

And with that, Knuckles began to hit the door behind him with his fists again and again, giving everything he had to try and weaken it. However, as Eggman had stated, this would not be an easy door to break.

As for Amy, she soon realized there was no way inside without a rope. Nevertheless, the pink hedgehog wasn't about to quit trying.

"I'll get inside that base again if it's the last thing I do!" Amy declared firmly. "No way Eggman's keeping me outta this fight!"

Back inside, the battle between Sonic and his metal counterpart continued. Thanks to Eggman's ingenuity, the blue hedgehog soon discovered Metal Sonic was indeed a very tough opponent.

Again and again, they traded off spin dashes, trying to wear the other down, but it continued to be a stalemate.

Kitty during this time felt helpless, as she didn't how to attack Metal Sonic without injuring Sonic in the process.

Seconds later however, the feline agent finally got an idea. After Sonic and Metal Sonic bounced off of each other again, landing five feet from each other, Kitty ran up to him before he could take off and handed him a magnetic bomb.

"Quick, use this stun him so I can get a shot at this metal monster with my MGL." Kitty instructed.

"Say what?"

Sonic though didn't get any time to argue about this, as Metal Sonic instantly came charging after the both of them.

Again, he and Kitty were forced to take evasive maneuvers, diving out of harm's way.

Kitty then said loudly to the blue hedgehog while running towards the right side of the room after getting back on her feet again, "Trust me on this. We need to weaken this robot in order to take it out."

Sonic, who was towards the left side at the time, replied with a mutter, "Oh, all right. If you say so." Deep down, Sonic wanted to take it down his way, but decided to put his pride aside for now since his methods weren't making any progress.

Moments later, Metal Sonic came charging again towards the blue hedgehog. Seeing a golden opportunity, Sonic decided to put Kitty's plan into action.

He then blasted towards Metal Sonic, as he was going to try and meet him head on.

_Ok, here goes nothing. _Sonic thought while running towards his target.

The two of them soon spun into a ball, as they were again attempting to out spin dash the other. However, exactly a split second before impact, Sonic eventually stopped spinning, where he then firmly grabbed the magnetic bomb in his right hand.

Moments later, he then jumped a couple of feet into air and tossed it directly at Metal Sonic's head.

Sonic's timing was right on the money, as the bomb stuck to his head thanks to the magnetic attachment on inside.

Seconds later, it blew up with fury, which in turn seriously stunned Eggman's robot.

Kitty then took full advantage of his stunned condition, as she fired two grenades at it, aiming one at his head, and the other at his chest. Within seconds, they exploded violently on contact, knocking Metal Sonic back by a couple feet.

_Yes! _Kitty thought with excitement. _We got it on the run now._

Unfortunately though, to her complete shock, Metal Sonic showed absolutely no signs of being damaged. Instead, like the E-18 before it, the only damage she saw was small dents in its metal structure.

Even Sonic couldn't believe this either.

_Man, it's like old Eggbelly really outdid himself this time._

Metal Sonic then shrugged off the minor effects of the blasts and charged forward again, this time directly at Kitty.

Seeing the M32 was of little help to her, the feline agent now tried to switch to the RPG-7 and attempt to fire a warhead at it.

That unfortunately would prove to be easier said than done. With Metal Sonic coming at her so quickly, Kitty soon realized she only had time to duck. And so, she did.

Metal Sonic though was able came to a stop after missing his target before hitting the wall in front of him, where it quickly changed direction and attempted to level Kitty, using another of her own martial arts moves against her.

Fortunately though, that would not happen. Unknown to her and Sonic, Rouge during this time used Emerl to break down the door.

Like before, the gray robot was able to do this within seven seconds, as it again blasted a hole within its metal structure.

Moments later, Emerl quickly came flying through the hole, where it then blindsided Metal Sonic from behind with a strong spin dash attack, sending it crashing into Cream's Plexiglas tubular prison. Thankfully for the small rabbit, she was not hit at all by this attack, as Metal Sonic instead was sent flying over her head, blasting through not just through the first tubular area, but the second one too, resulting in Plexiglas shards being scattered around in several directions.

Kitty, Sonic, as well as Cream looked on this move dumbfounded, as they heard Rouge shout from behind, "Take that thing out, Emerl!"

Emerl instantly complied, attempting to spin dash Metal Sonic again.

However, Metal Sonic was ready for Emerl this time. Since it was stronger and faster, Eggman's secret weapon beat the gray robot to the punch, hitting Emerl with a well-timed martial arts kick to its head.

Emerl was sent flying towards the wall behind it, but was able to slow its decent, using its metal hand to cushion the impact. Metal Sonic though gave Emerl no time to react, as it quickly spun into a ball and performed a powerful spin dash.

Metal Sonic's spin dash attack was so powerful; it blasted Emerl completely through the wall, putting a moderate size hole in it. The room they were now in was none other than the one Rouge had been in previously.

"Hey, where do you metal heads think you're going?" Sonic demanded. "You're not getting away from me that easily!"

The blue hedgehog then ran towards the hole and jumped towards it.

"Sonic, wait a second!" Kitty shouted, extending her right hand towards him.

Sonic though wouldn't halt, as he quickly made his way inside without a word in response.

Kitty soon groaned loudly, shaking her head with disgust.

Rouge then spoke up, commenting, "Well, that was awkward…"

Kitty instantly turned to look at Rouge, giving her the evil eye.

Rouge though paid no attention to it, as she said to Kitty, "You might want to give Sonic a hand since Metal Sonic is quite a formidable machine."

"You…!" Kitty could not say another word to the manipulating bat, as her emotional state was one of compete rage.

"Now if you'll excuse me," Rouge said, spreading her wings. "I have a certain Chaos Emerald to retrieve."

Rouge then walked towards the window and prepared to fly out of it.

Kitty though didn't her the chance to leave, as she charged towards her from behind and decked Rouge with a cross punch to the back of her head, knocking the female bat onto the ground seriously stunned.

"Hey, what's the big idea, Catwoman?" Rouge demanded, getting up, rubbing the spot Kitty had hit.

"After what you did to us, you actually have the nerve to ask me THAT?" Kitty at this point could still not contain her rage.

"Hey, I came back, didn't I?" Rouge retorted without remorse. "I even brought Emerl to help you take out Metal Sonic. That should mean something to you."

Kitty's anger though was not diffused in the least, as she replied, pointing a finger at Rouge, "The fact you actually made me think for a while you had finally changed, but really didn't makes that point completely moot! You set us up into Eggman's trap, and that I cannot overlook!"

"Look, it wasn't like I going to leave you two to die." Rouge replied. "I was just going to get what was rightfully mine from Eggman and actually take him out for you guys and then give you a hand afterwards."

Kitty was now silent inside, as Rouge added with a frown, "There, you're welcome, miss hothead."

"So, you actually were going to take advantage of this battle just to get your hands on a Chaos Emerald and then take the credit of executing Eggman?" Kitty then pointed another finger at her, shouting, "You make me sick!"

Rouge let out a heavy sigh, muttering, "I guess no matter what I do, you'll always find some fault with it."

"It's because you're a devious, two timing troublemaker!" Kitty shot back. "And what makes this worse is the fact you deceived Topaz into thinking you were a good person! How could you do that to her?"

Rouge though dodged that issue, replying firmly, "This is just the way I operate, Catwoman. It may not always be pretty or on the up and up, but I get the job done, and that's all that matters to me."

By this time, Kitty completely lost all of her composure, saying to her with a fierce glare, "I've hads all I could stand with you. I put up with your bad attitude and deceptive ways this long in order to become a respectable G.U.N solider, as well as for the sake of Topaz. But no more! It's time I taught you a lesson, batty!"

"You're joking, right?" Rouge inquired. "Now?"

"Yes! Now!" Kitty reiterated loudly. "You're not getting away with what you've done any longer!"

"Shouldn't you be more concerned with Sonic at the moment?" Rouge countered with arched eyebrows. "He is battling Metal Sonic after all."

To the female bat's surprise, Kitty replied without hesitation, "Sonic will be fine for the time being, especially if has Emerl to help him out. But as for me, I'm personally coming after you now!"

"Oh, so you're actually going to stoop to my level and use your weapons to beat me?" Rouge commented with a frown. "I guess your standards aren't so high after all."

Kitty then dumbfounded Rouge, as she tossed her weapons aside in a corner and replied firmly while displaying her claws, "the only weapon I'll be using to fight you with is my very own. In other words, hand to hand combat!"

Rouge meanwhile began to chuckle to herself at thought of this, asking with a smirk on her face, "Are you sure you want to do something that reckless, Catgirl? I have a tendency to inflict a lot of pain on others when I want to."

"You just worry about yourself, batty!" Kitty shot back. "I'm more than capable of holding my own ground!"

By this time, Rouge turned to look at the feline in the eye and replied, "You know what? I think you might actually have a good idea here. I've been wanting a piece of you anyway since you outwitted me during our training missions."

"Then bring it!" Kitty countered.

Rouge though still tried to intimidate Kitty, saying to her with a firm glare, "Last chance, furball. Once you start tangling with me, I'll make you seriously regret it."

"Are you done with your mind games?" Kitty retorted. "Or are you actually stalling with me because you're scared?"

That statement set off Rouge, as she said, now giving Kitty a dirty look while replying, "Oh, it is so on, Catwoman."

And with that statement, the two of them then stared each other down for several seconds, where they then lunged towards each other at full speed.

Even though Kitty deep down knew this wasn't a smart idea on her part, she could not control her rage towards Rouge any longer.

While this was going on, Topaz and the President were now finally safely aboard the main G.U.N navy ship. Once they were there, G.U.N's medical team began to escort Topaz to another room in order to give her the proper medical treatment for her severely wounded shoulder.

Tails, who was in the process of trying to repair his X-Tornado with the help of G.U.N technicians, saw Topaz's condition, making him ask her with a gasp, "Topaz, what happened to you?"

A G.U.N medical officer though spoke up before Topaz could, saying to him sharply, "Mind your own business, fox. Can't you see she's in too much pain to talk to you now?"

Topaz however wouldn't take that harsh treatment of Tails lightly, telling the officer with rebuke in her voice, "Don't you dare talk to him like that! This young fox saved my life a while ago. If he wants to ask me some questions, I'd say he's entitled to a couple."

"But Ma'am…" The officer protested softly. "That shoulder of yours is in really bad shape. You need to have a doctor work on it right away."

"I'm aware of that." Topaz replied. "But it's not so life threatening that it can't wait a minute or two."

Tails could not help but be impressed by how tough and dedicated Topaz was as a G.U.N agent, even if her current condition.

Seeing she was serious about this, the medical officers said reluctantly with a sigh, "Fine, I'll give you two minutes."

After they left to give them some time alone, Tails said to Topaz, "I appreciate you taking the time to do this in spite of your injuries, so I'll try to keep it brief."

"It's ok." Topaz replied. "After all you did to help me and Kitty get past Eggman's missile attacks; you're more than due some answers if you want them."

Tails then asked her, "So, what did happen exactly? Did Eggman's robots shoot you?"

"No." Topaz answered, shaking her head. "I took a mini turret bullet meant for Kitty."

Tails instantly gasped in horror, asking, "You mean… Eggman was trying to kill her in the base?"

"Indeed he was." Topaz told him. "Thankfully though, I saw the weapon before it could shoot her. I then threw myself in its path, thus talking the full impact."

"Whoa…" Tails was now even more blown away by her selflessness. "You could have been killed, you know?"

"Maybe…" Topaz replied softly. "But in the heat of the moment, I knew it was the right thing to do. After all, knowing my fiancé, he more than likely sacrificed his life so that Sonic's friends in the Thorndyke's mansion could be saved. So, how could do I not the same for them when the opportunity arose during the mission in Eggman's base?"

"I see…"

Tails then saw Topaz shed a few tears after she had said this, as mentioning his name was still a very touchy subject for her.

Moments later, Tails softly walked toward the injured G.U.N agent and hugged her tightly in the midsection beneath her shoulders, saying softly, "Thank you. You have no idea how much it means to me that you actually cared enough to protect Kitty from harm."

Topaz at first was taken a bit back by this gesture of gratitude of the two tailed fox, but soon returned his embrace, replying with a soft smile, "You're welcome Tails."

Even though there was still a lot of pain in her shoulder when she used her arms to hug him, Topaz didn't care about this too much, as she felt very happy inside now.

This touching moment however would not last long, as the medical officer said to her with an out of patience look, "All right, agent Topaz, there'll be plenty of time for thank yous and hugs later. Right now, we need to get going and have your shoulder tended to right away."

Topaz soon stood up after letting go of the two tailed fox, replying, "I guess you're right."

The female G.U.N agent was about to turn and head with the medical team, when Tails said, "Before you go, could I ask one more question from you?"

The same medical worker soon groaned in disgust, muttering, "Not again. Can't it wait until later?"

Topaz though shot him a glare to let Tails speak. So, with extreme reluctance, he did.

She then turned and replied, "Sure, go ahead."

"Well, just curious, is everyone else ok?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Topaz asked a bit confused.

"I mean… has anyone else suffered injuries during the battle?" Tails reiterated.

"Not that I know of." Topaz answered. "But since I've left the base, who can say for sure?"

"Good point." Tails said softly. "I guess I'll have to find out then from Kitty using her wireless radio headset."

The same medical worked then walked towards Topaz and said while taking her by the left arm, "C'mon, Agent Topaz. We need to go now. That shoulder is only to get more infected the longer it doesn't worked on."

Topaz decided to not delay this any longer, as she turned to leave with them.

But before she walked away, Topaz said to two tailed fox, looking at him, "See you later, Tails."

Tails waved goodbye to her, as Topaz added shortly after, "Let me know if you hear anything from our friends."

"I'll be sure to do that." Tails replied.

And with that statement, Topaz and the medical team walked her towards the emergency room onboard the ship.

The G.U.N Commander then came on the scene, asking Tails a bit gruffly, "Well, young lad, how's the repairs on the X-Tornado going?"

"Uh, well, it's going along as well as can be, sir." Tails answered a bit sheepishly.

"Will it be ready within fifteen minutes so you can help your friends escape the base?" Commander Towers inquired. "We'll need them off the island before we can launch our strike against Dr. Eggman."

"I don't think so." Tails told him with hesitance. "The damage Eggman did to the right jet engine was more extensive than I originally thought."

Hearing this news caused the G.U.N Commander to lower his head a bit, as he was now in deep thought. He then looked at Tails and said to him firmly, "Have it fixed as soon as you can. It's very important to me that this jet becomes fully operational right away."

"I'll do my best, Commander." Tails replied.

"Good."

Moments later, Commander Towers turned to walk away, but before he did, he said to Tails with a frown, "Although, had Agent Katswell listened to me and not been so stubborn, we could have already taken out Eggman by now."

"Oh?"

"She insisted that they rescue the other hostage first before we attacked." The G.U.N Commander reiterated. "Not a very smart move on her part."

Tails instantly knew who he was referring to, making him cringe a bit inside.

"Well, for her sake, Agent Katswell had better hope her risky move pays off." Commander Towers muttered. "I won't be very merciful to her if she ends up giving Eggman enough time to counter our missile launch."

While Tails understood his feelings for wanting to attack now, he nonetheless felt the Commander was putting a higher value on winning the war than saving innocent lives.

Even so, Tails put those feelings aside, saying to the G.U.N Commander, "Anyway, I guess I better get back to work on the X-Tornado now."

"Good idea, son." Commander Towers replied.

Tails then used his two tails to fly back to the X-Tornado since it her leg was still in a lot of pain, soon thinking a bit upset inside, _He better not be too hard on her after it's all said and done. I know Kitty did the right thing in this matter, even if there is a chance Eggman could use this time against G.U.N._

Once he was near the X-Tornado again, Tails decided to get in touch with Kitty and get an update on the battle.

However, he was unable to get in contact with her, as Kitty had turned off her wireless radio in order to keep it from getting damaged during her personal conflict with Rouge.

_That's odd._ Tails thought with a look of puzzlement on his face after hanging up his radio receiver on the X-Tornado._ How come Kitty isn't answering? Did something happen?_

Since he had no idea what was currently going on, the two tailed fox couldn't help but think the worst.

_Oh, Kitty… I sure hope nothing bad has happened to you._

Tails of course was worried about Sonic and the others too, but couldn't help feel the most concern for Kitty since he currently had a big soft spot for her.

Meanwhile, in another part of the ship, the President inquired of one of the crew members nearby, "You got any place where I can recharge my cell phone? The battery is near dead."

"Sure thing, Mr. President. Follow me."

This crew member then took the President into the hull, where the main computer system was being kept and said pointing at it, "Just plug it into one of the outlets near the computer and it should recharge within the hour."

Unfortunately though, all the outlets in the room were being used by the main computer's LAN network. So, he instead connected his phone to a USB port in order to charge it.

Within seconds after it was hooked up, the computer recognized it and began to show the screen of it recharging the phone.

Seeing his phone charging, the President said to the same worker, "Thank you. Now, you got a phone I could use to get in touch with my loved ones in the meantime?"

"Sure thing, sir." The crew member replied. "Follow me."

As he did so, the President commented as they walked, "You know, it's the strangest thing. My phone was fully charged before Eggman kidnapped me and temporarily confiscated it."

"Eggman had your phone, sir?" the crew member asked.

"Yea, but he then gave it back to me within the hour." The President added with arched eyebrows.

"Does that really matter now since you currently have it in your possession?" the crew member asked.

"Well, I just can't help but wonder what Eggman was doing with it during that time." The President told him. "Frankly, it's got me completely baffled."

"Maybe Eggman got your personal information from it?" the crew member suggested.

"Perhaps…" However, the President couldn't help but feel Eggman did more than just that.

Nevertheless, he decided to deal with it later, saying, "Anyway, show me where the phone is so I can call already."

"Right away, sir."

After they left, the President's phone then did something very peculiar, as it began to install a program on the main hard drive of G.U.N's main network.

Back in the base, Kitty and Rouge's personal battle was now in full swing. Once they got close enough to attack, Kitty took the first shot, swinging her fists at Rouge's head again and again.

Rouge though easily evaded her swings by bob and weaving around it. Then, she went after Kitty with fury, using her powerful legs to try and pummel her with multiple round house kicks to the head.

Like before, Kitty too evaded her attacks, using the same bob and weave tactics to elude getting hit. Seconds into this, the feline quickly ducked underneath another flying kick, where she then tripped up Rouge in one quick swoop onto the ground flat on her back.

Seeing the opening, Kitty charged towards the manipulating bat while she was trying to get up and attempted to pounce on top of her in order to smack her up good.

However, Rouge quickly anticipated this move on her part and instantly countered it. The second Kitty came flying in; Rouge stuck her feet in the air and used them to toss the feline agent into the wall behind her.

Since Rouge did indeed have strong legs, Kitty was sent flying into that wall, slamming into hard back first.

Even with Kitty temporarily down and stunned, Rouge wouldn't let up on her. The second Kitty got back on her feet; Rouge went all out on her, hitting her directly in the upper chest and head with multiple round house kicks as hard and as fast as she could deliver them.

With no time to react to being stunned, Kitty was helpless to fight back for the time being.

After being hit by more than five of them, Rouge then nailed with a flying kick to the right side her head, knocking her over ten feet across the room.

As Kitty struggled to get up while letting out a moderate groan, Rouge said to her with a frown, "I told you, Catgirl… I can inflict a lot of pain when I want to! But since you were stubborn enough to take me on anyway, I'll see that you get plenty more of it."

Kitty though wasn't about to back down in the least, soon standing up and glaring at Rouge intently while placing a hand on the top of her right leg.

Sensing her spirit was still strong, Rouge quickly charged towards her again, determined to knock the fight out of the feline agent.

That however would not happen. In spite of being a bit beaten up, Kitty was still able to hold her ground against the female bat, evading every roundhouse kick Rouge swung at her.

After about a half a dozen missed attempts, Rouge said with anger in her voice while still trying to hit her, "Just give it up already! You can't beat me and you're being a fool to even try!"

But like with the training missions, Rouge would soon pay for her overconfidence. Out of nowhere, Kitty finally countered the manipulating bat's attack, as she grabbed her right ankle firmly with both hand.

This move took Rouge completely by surprise, as Kitty would now unleash her wrath on her.

Moments later, Kitty swung Rouge into the wall behind them over three times, slamming her hard back first against it each time with fury. Then, Kitty swung her around and around, where she flung her into the tubular prison of Cream's, again slamming into back first, eventually slumping to the ground in a heap.

Cream during this time was completely horrified by their actions, as he pleaded with them, "Please, stop your fighting already. You two shouldn't be hurting each other."

The young rabbit's words unfortunately fell on deaf ears; as Kitty instead was too focused on beating the tar of Rouge to hear her cries.

Rouge during this was very stunned and sore while she slowly got up, as Kitty had hit her with everything she had.

Like Rouge though, Kitty still wasn't satisfied, as she charged towards the female bat to hit her again, this time with an aerial karate kick to her head.

Rouge however was able to evade it, in spite of her bruises, ducking underneath it at the last second. This in turn caused Kitty's right foot to come into contact with the Cream's tubular chamber as well, quickly bouncing off of it.

While Kitty turned around to face her opponent again, Rouge immediately came after her, attempting to level the feline agent with another batch of roundhouse kicks to her head.

But like from before, Kitty evaded the attacks with bob and weave tactics, eventually grabbing Rouge's right ankle again.

This this though, Kitty used a different method to attack, kicking Rouge directly in the gut to momentarily stun her. Then, while she recoiled holding her stomach, Kitty leveled her with a 360 spinning round house kick to the head.

Rouge again was sent flying, this time into the wall behind her, again hitting it back first, causing her to slump to the ground a second time.

Seeing her weakened condition, Kitty immediately charged towards her, as she now wanted to finish her off in order to end the fight between them.

But Rouge was far from done. Like before, Kitty attempted another aerial kick at her head, but missed again, as Rouge ducked underneath it a split second from impact, causing Kitty to hit the wall with her foot, bouncing off it like before.

Since Rouge by this time was starting feel fatigued, as she soon stated while gasping for air, "You're not bad. I guess you got a lot more fight in you than I originally thought."

Kitty too was gasping for air during this time, retorting firmly, "I guess you and Eggman do have something in common after all. You both seriously underestimate me."

"Don't you go patting yourself on the back just yet, Catwoman." Rouge shot back. "I still have plenty left in me to take you down."

"Then why don't you stop talking already and show me?" Kitty countered.

Kitty and Rouge during this time of banter were circling around each other like boxers, trying to get the drop on the other.

"You want more?" Rouge challenged. "Then you'll get it!"

And with those words, Rouge and Kitty again began to brawl.

Cream sadly could only watch helplessly in shock, as nothing she said was getting through to them.

Even Eggman was in shock as well while watching from his control panel.

"Am I actually seeing things, or is that feline troublemaker actually fighting with that bounty hunter rather than help Sonic defeat my super weapon?"

Eggman then rubbed his hand together with glee, commenting, "Oh, this is just too good to be true. I never thought Agent Katswell would be stupid enough to let her pride get in the way of defeating me, but hey, that's fine with me."

After a brief pause, "Well, since those two are foolish enough to beat each other up, I guess I don't need to worry about them for now. I'll focus my Egg Flappers on taking down that despicable hedgehog and that turncoat robot instead."

Eggman then pressed the button, as he summoned over a dozen Gun Flappers to where Sonic currently was and ordered them to take him out.

Speaking of Sonic, he and Emerl were having a whale of a time trying to manhandle Metal Sonic. The blue hedgehog during this time soon discovered Metal Sonic was indeed quite the machine.

Since Sonic saw Emerl trying to take down Metal Sonic from the get go once they were in the other room, he eventually decided to help the gray robot out for now, especially since it wasn't attacking him.

However, even with their combined efforts in an attempt to wear it down, Metal Sonic would not be taken out so easily. Eggman's statement of it being ten times stronger then Emerl was no doubt becoming painfully obvious.

After Sonic bounced off of it unsuccessfully three times in a row, he thought with a frown, _Man, that machine is tough as steel. I can't penetrate it at all._

At this point, Sonic knew he was going to have to change strategies in order to defeat it.

Seeing that Metal Sonic was coming after him persistently without any hesitation, he soon thought with a grin, _that gives me an idea._

Sonic then ran away from Emerl and Metal Sonic, saying to his metal imposter with a taunt, "Catch me if you can, faker!"

Metal Sonic instantly took the bait, as it charged after the blue hedgehog.

Sonic though was ready for it this time, as she soon stopped in the middle of the room, waiting for Eggman's robot to try and attack him.

Sure enough, it did, as it soon came flying in to try and hit Sonic with a powerful spin dash.

Sonic though was more than able to evade its attack, as he jumped over Metal Sonic once it got close to him. Then, after he landed, Sonic turned around and whistled to the blue robot, saying with a grin, "Over here, you bucket of bolts!"

Metal Sonic instantly turned around after slowing itself from its previous attack, where it quickly gave chase again.

During this game of cat and mouse of Sonic's, Emerl was still trying to do as Rouge had told it, which was none other than to destroy Metal Sonic. However, he was unable to get a shot at it thanks to Metal Sonic going after the blue hedgehog, as well as being able to fly faster than Emerl could.

That though would change eventually, as Emerl was soon closing in to attack.

As Sonic had planned it, he had drawn Metal Sonic away in order to give Emerl a chance to blindside Eggman's powerful machine from behind.

Less than ten seconds later, Emerl was able to carry out his plan, as he leveled Metal Sonic from the right side with a roundhouse kick directly to the side of its metal head.

Emerl's attack was strong enough that it sent Metal Sonic crashing into the wall towards the right side of the room.

Seeing his plan executed as planned, Sonic was now psyched up, saying with his right fist pumped in the air, "Oh yea! I think I got something here!"

Metal Sonic meanwhile tried to get up and attack up again.

Unfortunately for the metal imitator though, Sonic took full advantage of this moment of it being down and stunned, where he hit it with not one, not two, but three consecutives spin dashes, as he blasted it from left to right, hitting Eggman's robot in this pattern.

Sonic's attacks as well inflicted damage to the blue robot, though not as much as he would have liked.

Metal Sonic however was far from being worn down. Within moments after Sonic had spin dashed it several times, it quickly got up and pursued after its target yet again.

"Uh oh." Sonic commented with a bit of concern on his face. "Here comes Round 2."

Since Metal Sonic was coming after him so fast, Sonic had no time to rev up his legs and make another break for it. Instead, he prepared to jump over it once it got close enough to attack.

But unlike last time, Metal Sonic did not attack him with another spin dash. Instead, it attempted to use Kitty's martial moves against the blue hedgehog, now executing a flying roundhouse kick to his head.

Sonic though was still able to evade its attack, as he ducked underneath its swinging metal leg.

In spite of this miss, Metal Sonic soon came after Sonic again, this time attempting several martial arts moves in successive fashion in order to take down its prey. It performed such moves as another roundhouse kick, karate chops, even trying to trip Sonic up with a low karate kick.

Sonic however was able to evade every attack Metal Sonic tried to unleash on him thanks to his high agility, ducking underneath the first kick, moving from left to right when the chops came at him, as well as jumping into the air when it tried to knock him off his feet.

Even then, Metal Sonic would not still ease up. It then attempted to level Sonic with a 360 roundhouse kick in the air.

That move on this robot's part though would turn out to severely backfire, as Emerl soon caught up with it, hitting Metal Sonic directly in its metal chest with a well-timed spin dash.

Metal Sonic again was sent crashing into the wall nearby, now seriously stunned.

Like before, Sonic would take full advantage of its dazed condition. This time, he jumped into the air once he was close enough to it and used his homing attack in attempt to weaken it further.

At first, Sonic's plan was working better than expected. Due to hitting it again and again on its metal head with his homing attack, he had begun to weak it somewhat.

"Heh heh, I should have thought of this before." Sonic commented to himself during his attack.

However, his fun would not last.

Within seconds, Sonic's shoes were nearly hit by gunfire from behind, making him yelp in surprise. He then stopped his homing attacks and turned to see what had tried to ambush him.

What he saw, was none other than Eggman's reinforcements… the Gun Flappers.

"Where did these flying buzzards come from?" Sonic demanded.

Unfortunately though, he would not get the chance to find out, as they all soon hovered above him, ready to try and shoot him yet again.

Sonic even noticed these aerial robots of Eggman's were trying to attack Emerl too, causing the gray robot as well to take evasive action.

Moments later, Metal Sonic finally snapped out of its dazed condition, as it soon locked onto Sonic and charged after him at full speed.

"Hoo boy, looks like Eggman's turned up the heat on me now." Sonic commented, now sweating a bit inside.

"You got that right, blue boy." Eggman retorted to himself while watching the footage with a grin in his control room. "You may have Emerl helping you out, but let's see you handle Metal Sonic and over a dozen Gun Flappers at the exact same time."

Despite this new challenge, Sonic wasn't about to lose his nerve. He was determined to wipe out Eggman's robots at any cost.

While this was going, Kitty and Rouge's fight was now intensifying. They would not hold anything back, even if they were now all bruised up.

Rouge then made the first move, as she attempted to hit Kitty with another round of strong roundhouse kicks.

Kitty again however was able to evade it like before, where she eventually grabbed Rouge's right ankle, this time flipping her end over end over, where she soon crashed to the floor chest first.

Rouge though got back on her feet quickly, as she now changed strategies on the fly. This time, she ran near the walls and used her right foot to push off of them in attempt get a boost of speed when trying to level the feline agent with a blow to the head.

Kitty at first was confused by this move, but soon saw what she was trying do. She fortunately was able to duck underneath it in time, as Rouge flew over her.

Nevertheless, Rouge kept at it, trying again and again to hit her, but failed. Even with all her bruises, Kitty was still able evade any flying kick that came at her.

Eventually, Kitty was to counter this formidable attack of Rouge's, as she waited until the right precise moment, where she then performed another 360 roundhouse kick, this time directly at her chest. Since Kitty's attack had been strong, she was able to knock the manipulating bat back a couple feet.

Kitty then tried to inflict another blow to Rouge by trying another flying kick at her, but that move would backfire.

Rouge quickly regained her focus, where she now grabbed Kitty by the right leg, as she now flew into the air in an attempt to toss her from ten feet up in order for her to fall from a greater height.

But again, Kitty would outwit Rouge.

Before Rouge could hit her, Kitty quickly countered her new plan of attack. Within seconds after she was being carried into the air, Kitty raised her left foot up as high as she could and kicked Rouge again in the gut to stun her.

While Rouge recoiled from this attack, Kitty quickly made her move, as she was able to get her left leg around Rouge's neck, as well as free her right, where she now used her leg strength to flip Rouge over in midair.

Within seconds, both of them hit the ground hard, with Rouge getting the worst of it due to being taken by surprise, hitting chest first yet again.

Kitty then stood up, brushing herself off while saying to Rouge after a deep breath, "All right, this fight of ours has gone on long enough. Now admit I have beaten you already."

To the feline agent's shock though, Rouge soon stood up after she said this to her, where the female bat replied hissing after glaring at Kitty with fierce hatred, "Never."

Kitty let out a groan of disgust, arguing, "Do you have such a big head that you can't admit when you've been licked?"

Rouge though didn't answer that question, as she instead replied, still glaring at her. "My pride has nothing to do with me refusing to quit. Since you wanted to fight me, you're going to fight me to the end."

Before Kitty could respond to this, Rouge flew several feet into the air, saying with determination in her voice, "Let's see try and take me down while I'm flying."

Kitty by this point was beginning to seriously regret her decision to fight Rouge, as it was going a lot farther than she thought it would.

Nonetheless, Kitty wasn't about to back down. She would continue to fight her in order to end it.

Back in the other room, Sonic's battle with Metal Sonic began to intensify tenfold. With over a dozen Gun Flappers hovering around the room as its reinforcements, he would have to unfortunately use some caution in order to take them out without giving Metal Sonic a chance to hit ambush him.

Eggman during this time looked at his screen with glee, as he eagerly anticipated Sonic being completely overmatched and taken down.

_Looks like I'm gonna have to use the old noggin again. _Sonic thought firmly.

Moments later, the Gun Flappers began to attack, spraying ammunition all over the area.

Sonic however countered this move of theirs by using his speed to run past their bullets. He then jumped into the air and started to use his homing attack to try and take out a few Gun Flappers that hovered around Emerl that were currently slowing him down.

As he thought, Metal Sonic continued to hunt him down, flying towards him at top speed.

Once it got close enough to him, Metal Sonic again attempted another spin dash to level Sonic with.

Sonic though was agile enough to jump over it in time. Instead, Metal Sonic's spin attack ended up hitting a few Gun Flappers nearby, instantly destroying them on contact.

Seeing these wrecked flying machines hit the ground nearby gave Sonic an idea.

_This imitator robot of mine follows me wherever I go. If I time it right, I could use this hunk of junk to take out Eggman's flying buzzards for me._

After Metal Sonic slowed down and turned around, Sonic soon got into position while carefully evading the oncoming bullets, taunting, "Yo, bothead! Try and hit me if you can!"

Metal Sonic instantly gave chase, as he again flew towards the blue hedgehog with great speed.

Seeing him take the bait, Sonic waited until he was close by. Then, he jumped into air with a cluster of Gun Flappers nearby, hoping Metal Sonic would do the same.

Sure enough, it did. Since Metal Sonic wasn't programmed to ignore any of Eggman's robots, it instead crashed into them with fury, again obliterating them on contact.

Sonic during this time used a homing dash just before it came towards him, as he was able to sail over Metal Sonic's attacks thanks to him bouncing off of a nearby Gun Flapper.

Eggman now looked on with deep anger and disgust.

"That blasted hedgehog!" he shouted, banging the dash. "He's using my own super weapon against my other robots!"

But Sonic wasn't done just yet. This time, he baited about half of the remaining Gun Flappers nearby to shoot at him, while taunting towards Metal Sonic almost the exact same time to attack him too.

Thanks to his superb timing, Sonic would again pull off a brilliant maneuver.

Metal Sonic soon charged towards him, now attempting to level Sonic with a flying roundhouse kick aimed at his head.

A second later, the Gun Flappers adjusted their aim and prepared to fire at the blue hedgehog.

With the pieces now in place, Sonic now timed his jump, where he soon lept high into air, evading both attacks with ease.

Metal Sonic on the other hand wouldn't so be lucky.

In spite of the fact it was bullet proof, Metal Sonic would not be completely immune from the machine gun bullets being fired at him. They instead slowed down his speed somewhat due to being hit with so many at once.

Sonic then took advantage of this, as he began to use his homing attack to damage the Gun Flappers nearby, wrecking one after the other.

Within seconds, he had taken out over five, now reducing Eggman's numbers to less than six.

Metal Sonic meanwhile finally turned around and quickly targeted the blue hedgehog, again giving chase.

Sonic though would use its over pursuit against Eggman once more.

He then ran towards the remaining five Gun Flappers in the room, getting into position while also evading any ammunition that came close to hitting him.

Like before, Metal Sonic followed Sonic's pattern to a T.

Once he was in position, Sonic quickly jumped into the air, again using a nearby Gun Flapper to bounce off of.

In almost similar like fashion, Metal Sonic quickly spun into a ball and tried to crush Sonic with another spin dash attack.

But like the last time as well, Sonic had timed his homing dash to near perfection, as Metal Sonic again slammed into most of the remaining Gun Flappers below him, resulting in them being crushed on impact.

Sonic by now couldn't be more elated, as he thought to himself; _I guess Eggman's not such a smart robot inventor after all. He couldn't even have his robot tell the difference between friend and foe._

Sonic then took out the remaining Gun Flappers Metal Sonic had missed, saying to himself after accomplishing the task, "Now it's just me and the metal faker again."

Moments later, Metal Sonic turned around and tried yet again to take out Sonic. Thankfully this time, Sonic didn't even need to evade.

Before it could get within five feet of him, Emerl came out of nowhere and blindsided the blue robot from the right side, level it with a well-timed spin dash to its metal head, sending it crashing into the wall from that angle.

Metal Sonic by this time was finally starting to feel of the effects of getting hit, as it now started to slightly spark inside.

While it struggled to get up, Sonic said to Eggman to his camera inadvertently, "C'mon, Doc, is that the best you can do? I'm barely even getting tired here."

"Oh, so you want more of a challenge, eh?" Eggman shot back. "Well, you got it!"

Seconds later, Sonic saw now two dozen Bomb Flappers enter the room, making him regret his taunting a bit.

_Uh oh, this ain't good._

"You may have been able to escape the gun fire," Eggman stated. "But let's see you evade bombs exploding onto the ground as well!"

But again, Sonic would not back down or lose his resolve, soon retorting, "Just keep sending em, Eggbelly, and I'll make sure to keep knocking em down!"

"Your arrogance is not one of your better traits, warthog." Eggman countered. "It'll soon come back to bite you if you're not careful."

"We shall see about that." Sonic replied firmly.

And with that statement, the next round would begin.

Meanwhile, Kitty and Rouge's next round during this time would begin as well. With Rouge now flying overhead, Kitty would be at a disadvantage.

Nevertheless, Kitty would not let this stop her in the least.

Moments later, Rouge swooped into to attack, again trying to level the feline agent with a flying roundhouse kick.

Kitty however would evade it yet again, ducking underneath it once the female bat came too close for her tastes.

Rouge though quickly changed direction in midair and tried to attack her in the exact same pattern. Again, Kitty ducked underneath it with ease, as the flying roundhouse kick completely missed her.

Rouge then perplexed the feline agent, as she attempted to attack her in almost identical fashion yet again.

Seeing that her pattern was becoming very predictable, Kitty then decided to finally counter it with her own flying roundhouse kick.

Unfortunately for her though, Rouge was setting her up.

This time, Rouge pretended to come swopping in to attack, making it look she was going to unleash another roundhouse kick.

However at the last second, Rouge pulled out of it, flying higher into the air, exactly one split second when Kitty tried to counter attack.

This in turn resulted in Kitty completely missing her target.

Rouge then took advantage of Kitty's missed attempted, as she now flew in from behind.

Before Kitty could turn around to face her, Rouge quickly leveled the feline agent to the ground with a strong roundhouse kick to the side of her face.

Kitty though got back on her feet quickly, soon facing the manipulating bat in midair, as Rouge taunted with a grin, "I knew you'd be stupid enough to bite if I kept my attack patterns the same."

"You just got lucky." Kitty retorted. "You won't get the drop on me so easily this time."

"Want to bet?" Rouge countered. She then dared Kitty, "Try and take me out while I'm flying if you can."

Kitty unwisely took on the manipulating bat's challenge, as she then rushed in, attempting to take her down with another flying kick to her chest.

Rouge however was too agile in the air for Kitty to hit, flying higher into the air a split second before her attack came close to hitting her.

In spite of that miss, Kitty kept at it, trying again to hit Rouge with her martial art moves.

But like before, it ended in failure, as Rouge again and again was able to fly out of harm's way.

Kitty by this time realized Rouge had a bigger advantage in the air than originally thought.

Even so, Kitty kept trying.

After missing for the sixth time, Rouge said to her with a smug grin, "You just don't know when you to give it up, do you?"

"I'll shut up your batty face soon enough!" Kitty shot back.

Unfortunately for the feline agent though, that would not happen. Even when Kitty tried Rouge's earlier attempts at using the walls to bounce off in order to get a running start, as well as jumping higher into the air to attack, it ended in failure.

By now, Rouge grew bored of Kitty's inability to attack her in the air. After Kitty missed a seventh time, soon using the walls again to try again, the manipulating bat would now strike back.

Once Kitty flew close enough for her tastes, Rouge took her by surprise, as she leveled the feline agent with a round house kick to her upper chest, sending her flying towards the ground below, hitting it chest first.

Kitty really felt it this time after landing, as her lower chest took the brunt of the fall. Thankfully though, her padding cushioned it mostly, thus negating any chances of breaking her ribs further.

In spite of that, Kitty's problems were far from over. While she struggled to get up, Rouge flew in and decided to take advantage of her currently down, soon putting her hands over her eyes so she couldn't see a thing.

This move on Rouge's part completely took Kitty by surprise, as she was unable to counter at all due to being blinded.

"Hey, stop it!" Kitty demanded while trying to get Rouge to let go of her face. "You're fighting dirty now!"

"You know what they say, Catwoman," Rouge retorted, holding onto her tightly. "All's fair in love and war."

Rouge then spun Kitty around with a twist of her wrists, causing her to become momentarily dizzy.

Rouge quickly pounced on her current dizziness, as she kicked Kitty in the face before she could clear her vision, again knocking to the floor.

While Kitty struggled to get up again, Rouge turned up the ante on her. This time, she flew in from behind, now taunting the feline agent with backhand slaps to the side of her head.

Since Rouge attacked swiftly and unpredictably, Kitty had no time to react. No matter what direction she turned in, Rouge would sneak around from behind the other side and smack her again.

"Stop toying with me already and face me!" Kitty demanded.

"But I don't want to." Rouge replied with a grin. "I'm having much too fun with you now."

This silly game of the female bat unfortunately went on for another thirty seconds, as Rouge continued to keep Kitty guessing where she would strike next.

Finally though, Rouge grew tired of this game, saying, "If you say, uncle, Catwoman, I'll quit hitting you. Deal?"

"Forget it." Kitty shot back. "I'm no quitter."

"Fine, suit yourself." Rouge replied with frown.

Rouge then used her foot to push Kitty onto ground after sneaking on her again.

When Kitty attempted to get up again, Rouge said while putting her hands on her own waist, "I think you need to take your own advice and give it up already. You can't beat me while I'm flying anyway."

But Kitty would not quit. Since Rouge was now humiliating her, she had too much pride in her to stop.

"You said you wanted to fight me to the end, so I'm going to see to it you get your wish." Kitty shot back, now standing up again.

Now out of patience, Rouge decided to finally to finish Kitty off.

Rouge then swooped in to attack, hoping the feline agent would try and swing at her in frustration.

Sure enough, she did.

Rouge though quickly countered it, as she swooped in from behind after evading her attack and grabbed Kitty from her shoulders abruptly, now carrying her into the air.

Her move again took Kitty by surprise, as she exclaimed, "Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

"Just speeding up the process." Rouge retorted. "Since you refuse to stop, I'll take the remaining fight out of you until you do."

Kitty tried desperately to get free, but could not. With her being from behind, the feline agent could not get a good enough grip to break free.

"Just stop struggling already and admit I beat you." Rouge said to her with annoyance. "Honestly, you're even worse than Knuckles now."

But Kitty refused to comply with a suggestion. Seeing no other options, Kitty now decided to use her feet in order to kick Rouge hard in the gut to stun her in order to get free.

Rouge though saw her winding her feet back to attack, saying to the feline agent while countering it, "Oh no you don't!"

Rouge instantly tossed Kitty onto the floor abruptly in one quick swoop. Since she had done this so quickly, Kitty barely had any time to react.

Within seconds, Kitty again hit the floor, again chest first.

By now, her sore ribs were really beginning to hurt, as she groaned loudly in pain.

Rouge meanwhile swooped down, saying during this time with a frown on her face, "Feline, isn't it time you stopped messing around with such trivial matters like myself and focused on what's really important for a change?"

Kitty during this time was still struggling to get up, now gritting her teeth in anger in response to her suggestion

Rouge then unwisely walked towards Kitty, suggesting, "C'mon, let's call it a match and get a move on, ok?"

Kitty though just turned her head while still on her hands and knees, giving Rouge a fierce glare.

Rouge though was unfazed by her facial expressions, adding as she walked closer to her, "Look, I'll even go as far to admit you were a worthy opponent to fight. That should somewhat satisfy you, right?"

Moments later, Rouge soon stood behind Kitty, extending her hand, saying to her, "Truce?"

Kitty however wanted no part of it, as she pretended to get up and shake the manipulating bat's hand, where she then quickly leveled her with a strong 360 flying round house kick to the face not even two seconds after getting up, taking her by complete surprise

Rouge was sent flying flat on her back, looking on in total shock.

Kitty then glared at her again, saying with a hiss in her voice, "Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you? As long as you win, you're ok with calling it a match. Well I got news for you. I'm not backing down, not until you get what's coming to you!"

Rouge by this was completely enraged. "Oh, that does it." She stated loudly with anger in her voice, standing up. "I tried to be reasonable with you, Catwoman, but if you want more pain from me, I can certainly deliver it!"

In an instant, Rouge charged towards Kitty. Kitty soon did the same after seeing her run, as the both of them soon went to attack each other again.

Within seconds, the two G.U.N agents again began to trade blows, with each trying to hit the other with punches and kicks. Ironically though, neither of them could hit the other, as both were able to evade each other's attack.

This soon went on for over thirty seconds, with the exact same result.

Sensing this was getting her nowhere, Rouge then tried to grab Kitty by the shoulders and shove her to the ground.

Kitty though saw her next move coming and quickly countered it, grabbing Rouge's shoulders as well.

What ensued next was nothing more than a power vs. power struggle, as both tried to overpower the other in this grapping match.

Seven seconds into this however, Kitty finally was able to use her lower body strength to get Rouge's footing off-balance, where she then lifted her by the waist up slowly but surely off the ground and tossed her onto the ground, landing flat on her back, seriously stunning her in the process.

Kitty then ran towards Rouge, trying to grab her by the neck and hit her some more.

Rouge though countered this, as she smacked the feline agent directly in the face with her right boot. This in turn stunned Kitty to the point where she soon staggered backwards, slightly bouncing off a wall nearby from behind her.

Rouge instantly pounced on this opening, where she quickly got up in anger and ran towards the feline agent, attempting to hit her again in the face with a flying round house kick.

Unfortunately for the female bat, Kitty made her pay for her aggressiveness, as she was able to clear her head in time, ducking completely underneath Rouge's flying kick.

Rouge instead bounced off the wall after her foot made contact with it, soon putting it back on the ground while soon looking for Kitty.

Kitty though made her presence known in a heartbeat, as she now hit Rouge with a strong cross punch across the face, again stunning her.

Since Rouge was now pinned behind the same wall Kitty once was, she had no chance to get away. Instead, Kitty hit her again and again, punching her several times in the face, eventually knocking her to the ground with a swift kick to the gut.

Rouge now fell to the ground in a heap, as Kitty had hit her with everything she had.

By this time, Kitty decided to quit wasting her time on Rouge and try and help Cream out of her tubular prison.

That decision on her part though almost ended up costly, as Cream shouted to her several seconds later, "Look out behind you!"

Cream's warning had been in just the nick of time. Kitty quickly turned her head and saw Rouge again trying to level Kitty with a flying roundhouse kick to her face.

Again, Kitty was able to evade Rouge's attack, ducking underneath it completely.

However, Rouge's attack did not end up completely negated. As a result of hitting Cream's tubular prison, it ended up with a severe crack in it, even having some parts of it come off and almost hit Cream in the face.

"What's wrong with you?" Kitty demanded. "You could have really hurt Cream with that latest stunt of yours!"

Rouge though paid no attention to her stern words, as she again tried to level the feline agent with strong and swift roundhouse kicks to her face.

Kitty however evaded each one that came at her, bobbing and weaving her way around them all.

After failing for the tenth time, Rouge then tried to back up and get a running start, this time trying to attack with another flying roundhouse kick, again aimed at Cream's tubular prison.

Rouge had done this in order to get Kitty in a tough spot and have her defend Cream.

Sure enough, Kitty did all right, but in a way Rouge did not see coming.

When Rouge finally did attack, Kitty ducked underneath her right boot, but then used her arms to block the manipulating bat from going any further, quickly grabbing Rouge by her waist again, where she was pushed back with one quick shove.

Rouge was not deterred in the least by Kitty's counter measures, as she quickly came charging in, now trying to use her body to ram Kitty against Cream's tubular prison in attempt to seriously weaken her.

But again, Kitty countered this maneuver as well, as she also came charging after her.

Seconds later, the two of them met head on, as their bodies soon collided with each other. Since both of them were near the same weight and mass, neither could get a big enough push to knock the other back.

Rouge then tried again to grab Kitty by the shoulders and pin her against Cream's Plexiglas tube in an attempt to inflict more pain on Kitty without her being able to escape.

But like before, Kitty too grabbed Rouge by the shoulder when she saw Rouge trying this maneuver, leading to another grappling match.

Unlike last time though, Rouge would not give Kitty a chance to use her stronger body strength against her. When neither of them budged for five seconds, Rouge then pulled off a shocking move.

She quickly leaned her head back and then attempted to bite Kitty hard on her chin.

Since Kitty never saw it coming, Rouge ended up getting a good piece of her chin before the feline agent could react.

Kitty instantly reacted once Rouge's teeth clamped down on her chin, as she let out a small yelp in pain, using one of her hands to try and push Rouge away.

Rouge though quickly let go and then pounced. With Kitty in a bit of shock, the manipulating bat hit her hard with a roundhouse kick to her face, seriously stunning her. Due to Kitty currently behind Cream's Plexiglas prison, the front, as well as the back of her head was hit, knocking her to the ground seriously stunned.

Kitty though quickly stood up, quickly rubbing her wounded and bleeding chin, stating in disbelief "You bit me!"

"So what if I did?" Rouge retorted. "You deserve a lot worse from me as a result of your foolish pride."

Kitty's facial expressions quickly changed from shock to anger, as she said, growling loudly, "All right, if that's the way you're going to play, then I'm game!"

Kitty then displayed claws and added, "I wasn't planning to use these on you since I didn't want to seriously wound you, but if you're going to play dirty with me, then so will I!"

"That's fine with me." Rouge shot back. "You'll be wasting your time though trying to use those things on me."

"Don't bet on it!" the feline agent countered.

And with that statement, Kitty instantly lunged towards Rouge, trying hard to slash the female bat with her lethal claws.

Rouge however was able to back up her boast, as she evaded every attempt on Kitty's part.

In spite of this, Kitty would not lose her resolve, as she was determined to try and give her what for.

Back in the other room, Sonic soon found himself in a huge fire fight to say the least. With now twenty Bomb Flappers gunning for him, as well as Metal Sonic, he knew it was going to get even dicier from here on out.

Metal Sonic again charged after the blue hedgehog moments later, trying to take him down.

Since he was dealing with flying robots that carried bombs, using the same tactic with Metal Sonic from before would be very risky, as he knew there was a good chance their bombs would detonate on impact if the spiky blue robot tried to spin dash him again, resulting in serious injury.

Keeping that in mind, Sonic decided to use another strategy to inflict damage to Metal Sonic's metal structure.

_Since these flying buzzards drop bombs on their enemies once they're underneath them, I think I'll use this to my advantage._

Sonic did just that, as he baited Metal Sonic to attack him once he stood underneath several Bomb Flappers.

However, Sonic soon discovered Metal Sonic was too fast for this plan to work, as any of the bombs that the Flappers dropped towards the ground didn't even come close to hitting it.

After more than five bombs hit the ground in the same fashion, Sonic realized it was time to change it up again.

_Well, if this metal faker won't come to the bombs, I'll have the bombs come to him._

Thinking fast, Sonic quickly jumped over Metal Sonic after it tried to spin dash him again, where he grabbed a hold a bomb one of the Bomb Flappers was holding, as he tried to get it free from its possession.

Since the Bomb Flapper saw him underneath, it did let go of the bomb.

But this bomb didn't hit the ground. Instead, Sonic had it firmly in his possession, where he soon whistled for Eggman's robot to try and attack him again.

As expected, Metal Sonic quickly turned around and charged towards its prey.

Sonic though was ready for it, as he waited until it was close enough and then heaved it at the blue spiky robot, jumping into the air a split second later.

The blue hedgehog's accuracy was right on the money, as the bomb exploded with intensity, blasting Metal Sonic directly in the face, which in turn stopped him in his tracks, as well as seriously stunning him.

Sonic then attempted to try and get the rest of the Bomb Flappers nearby to drop their bombs at Eggman's robot from above.

That strategy however would be altered, as Emerl finally caught up to Metal Sonic after perusing after it again, where the gray robot again slammed Metal Sonic with a strong spin dash attack to the chest, sending the blue spiky robot crashing into the wall behind it.

At first, Sonic was a bit bummed out by Emerl's interference, but then decided to take advantage of it. Since he was standing underneath a couple of Bomb Flappers with bombs still in their possession, he again baited them to drop their bombs on him.

Little did they realize, Sonic would use their own attacks against them, as he grabbed two bombs, one in each hand and then got out of the other's range, where he planned to heave them both at Metal Sonic.

While this was going on, Emerl was currently using its learned moves, such as the martial arts of Kitty, another spin of Sonic's to try and damage Metal Sonic to the point of short circuiting.

Sadly though, that would not happen.

In spite of the Emerl's best efforts to inflict damage on the blue spiky robot, Metal Sonic eventually broke free of Emerl's attacks and struck back, using its greater speed and power to counter.

Sonic unfortunately could not get there in time to help out, as he witnessed Metal Sonic slamming Emerl across the room in one swift blow, hitting it with a powerful spin dash of its own to the chest. All he could do was turn his head, watching Emerl crash into the wall on the opposite side with fury.

Sonic however didn't get to watch for long, as Metal Sonic quickly targeted him after trashing Emerl, where he again charged after the blue hedgehog.

Sonic though was ready for Eggman's robot, as he got into position to counter again.

Once Metal Sonic came closer to try and attack him, Sonic immediately leaped over it, where he then did a 180 in the air and heaved a bomb at it in one swift motion.

Again, Sonic's accuracy was right on the money, blasting Metal Sonic directly in the face after it attempted to quickly turn around and attack him again.

With Metal Sonic now seriously stunned, Sonic said to Eggman's secret weapon, "Well, well, metal faker, you may know everything I'm going to do, but it won't help you out one bit."

Once Metal Sonic got cleared its CPU vision and glared at the blue hedgehog again, Sonic added, "And you want to know why?"

Metal Sonic though didn't give him a chance to respond, as it charged after Sonic with speed and fury.

Sonic again however was ready for the blue spiky robot. He then ran towards his metal imposter, where he soon answered his own question while he heaved the remaining bomb at the blue spiky robot, "It's because I know everything you're doing as well!"

Since Sonic attacked quickly, Metal Sonic had no time to react or even evade for that matter. Instead, it took another big explosion to the face, knocking it backwards onto the ground seriously damaged.

Deciding to rub this fact in, the blue hedgehog said to Eggman's robot with a grin, "Strange, isn't it?"

Sonic then went for the kill, as he again and again spin dashed the blue spiky robot without letting up from all angles.

Even Emerl got a few shots in eventually, in spite of the fact Metal Sonic had seriously damaged not even a minute ago.

Eggman by this point looked on in shock and complete horror, as the Bomb Flappers idea had severely backfired, thanks to Sonic using the bombs against its machines.

Ten seconds later, Emerl attempted to deliver a huge blow, as it attempted to slam the blue spiky robot into the wall from behind again and again. This in turn began to damage Metal Sonic to the point its metal head began to dent in, sparking even worse.

"All right, that does it!" Eggman shouted, banging his dash again while witnessing this. "I didn't want to use this since I wasn't sure Metal Sonic could handle it safely, but I see I have no choice now."

What Eggman was referring to was none other than an overdrive device built into Metal Sonic to give it more power and speed. However, he knew there was a strong chance this device could cause Metal Sonic to go berserk or worse since he had very little time to test it.

Nevertheless, he pressed the button anyway, saying with arrogance, "Risky or not, I'm not letting that despicable hedgehog beat me!"

Moments later, the overdrive device was activated within Metal Sonic, at almost the exact same time, Sonic boasted to Eggman, "Yo, doc, watch and weep as I'm now going put away your so called secret weapon right in front of your little camera!"

"That's what you think, rodent!" Eggman countered over the PA system. "I'm not out of tricks just yet!"

Sonic again was about to retort to Eggman's statement, but the change in Metal Sonic soon caught his eye, making him look at it deeply perplexed.

Emerl during this time was about to try and inflict more damage to Metal Sonic, as it had backed up and was in the process of hitting the spiky blue robot with another strong spin dash.

But that move would unfortunately turn out to be Emerl's downfall.

As soon as the gray robot came close to attack, Metal Sonic used its gained power and speed against it, as it blasted Emerl with a devastating counter punch.

Sonic could only look on in horror, as Emerl this time not only crashed into the opposite wall, he almost went through it entirely.

"What in the…?"

Metal Sonic's punch had been so strong; Emerl was now the on the verge of self-destructing due to being severely damaged by Metal Sonic's attack.

Eggman then said to Sonic with glee over the PA system in the room, "Now, what was that about you saying you were going to finish off my secret weapon on camera?"

Sonic unfortunately had no retort for this, as he saw the change in Metal Sonic was no laughing matter. Its eyes now glowed a brighter red, as well as its metal chest cavity now glowed due to the large amount of electricity now surging through it.

"How is it possible that thing attacked Emerl with such ferocious power?" Sonic inquired completely dumbfounded.

"Simple, warthog." Eggman replied. "I gave it a power boost."

"Say what?"

"You should thank G.U.N for attacking me so soon." Eggman told him. "Had they given me more time, I would have had used this power device finished sooner to completely annihilate your blue hide from the get go!"

Sonic wasn't 100% sure what he meant by that, but decided he had time to ponder Eggman's cryptic words.

To make things even more difficult for him, Sonic saw Emerl was no longer able to give him a hand, as it could barely move.

Metal Sonic then went to attack, but it didn't go after Sonic this time. Instead, it wiped out the remaining Bomb Flappers in the room, as Eggman saw they were more of a liability than a help.

After that was done, Eggman said to his nemesis after Metal Sonic stood in front of him again, "Well, Sonic, it looks it's just you and my secret weapon now. You won't be getting any more assistance from Emerl or those Flappers of mine!"

Before Sonic could respond to this, Eggman added in a taunting manner, "You think you can beat my super robot by yourself?"

In spite of Sonic's new concerns, he showed no signs of being flustered, as he replied to Eggman with a boast, "You know I will, Eggy. I'll show you once again that I can beat any robot you send after me, powered up or not."

"Good." Eggman replied firmly. "I want you to give it your best shot before my super weapon beats the tar out of you."

"Keep dreaming, Eggbelly." Sonic countered. "When this battle is over with, you'll be minus another of your so called secret weapons."

Meanwhile, Kitty and Rouge's battle was now reaching its climax. With both of them getting very exhausted, as well as fed up with each other's battle tactics, they decided it was time to end it once and for all.

In spite of her chin still bleeding, Kitty continued to try and slash Rouge's face with her claws, attacking each time with speed and power.

Rouge though, even now, was still able to evade her attacks.

After seven failed attempts by Kitty, Rouge finally countered, as she quickly ducked underneath and tripped the feline agent up onto the ground.

Kitty however quickly got back on her feet, again trying to slash Rouge with her claws.

But Kitty again failed, as Rouge was too agile for the feline agent due to her attacking with mostly anger and rage instead of precision and accuracy.

Ten seconds later, Rouge again countered, this time ducking underneath and then kicking Kitty directly on her freshly wounded chin.

Since the bite still hurt even now, Rouge's kick only intensified Kitty's pain, as she let out a small yelp, holding it with her right hand.

In spite of this, Rouge wouldn't let up, as she tried to finish her off, now hitting her with multiple roundhouse kicks to her face, soon pinning her against Cream's tubular prison again.

Rouge then said to Kitty while kicking her, "Why don't you just give up already?" Rouge had said each word slowly as a sign of her frustration with the feline agent's persistence and stubbornness.

But Kitty wasn't about to quit.

Out of nowhere, she finally ducked underneath one of Rouge's kicks, where she jabbed her hard in the gut.

This move ended up seriously stunning the female bat, as she soon staggered back.

Kitty then took full advantage of this, as she charged towards Rouge, with her claws displayed again.

As Kitty drew closer, Rouge was able to clear her head, but not soon enough, as she saw the feline agent coming for her quickly at full speed.

All Rouge could do since unfortunately since Kitty was ready to pounce that instant was lean back as far as she could go to try and evade her claws.

Sadly, it wasn't enough, as Kitty was still able to get a couple of decent shots at her.

Kitty claws ended up slightly slashing Rouge's face up on both sides, leaving moderate marks on it, which soon began to bleed a bit.

Rouge then put her right hand on her face, as she saw a moderate amount of blood on it after looking at her glove.

This in turn set Rouge off; as she was enraged by the fact Kitty was actually able to claw her face.

Instantly, Rouge attempted to use multiple roundhouse kicks to try and hit Kitty with, but failed.

However, with her kicks coming at her so quickly, Kitty eventually had to bail, as she did a backflip, landing five feet out harm's way, now standing near Cream's tubular prison again.

"How dare you scar my beautiful face!" Rouge shouted, pointing a finger at her. "Ooh, you're going to get it now!"

Kitty though retorted, pointing to her wound with a finger from her right hand, "Talk to the chin, batty! Since you gave me a facial wound, I decided to give you two!"

Rouge strangely didn't answer her. Instead, she just gritted her teeth at the feline agent and soon flew into the air.

Kitty during this time didn't know what was she planning, but decided to keep her guard up nonetheless.

Seconds later though, Kitty eventually figured it out, as she soon saw Rouge backing up towards the opposite wall, leaning her feet on it.

_So, she's going to use the wall to push off and come after me, eh? _

However, to Kitty's shock, she found out Rouge was not just going to do that, but also that she was aiming directly for Cream's tubular prison.

_That dirty bat's actually going to try that crazy stunt again in order to bait me? _

In spite of this, Kitty wouldn't back down, as she added, _if she thinks she's going to get me this time, she's crazy!_

Within seconds, Rouge finally pushed off the wall and came flying in towards Kitty at full speed, aiming for Cream's prison as Kitty had originally thought.

Kitty meanwhile ran towards Rouge, as she going to use her body to halt the female bat in her tracks.

Moments later, Kitty then jumped into the air, soon attempting a flying kick to try and knock Rouge back.

However, neither of their attacks went according to plan. Instead, both collided with each other at full speed, which in turn caused both of the female G.U.N agents to ricochet off each, sending both of them crashing into a stationary object nearby

In Rouge's case, it was the wall behind her. For Kitty though, it was Cream's Plexiglas tube.

By this time, both of them were physically spent, as their latest attack had taken out all of the fight left in them.

Rouge then spoke up, saying while gasping for air, "Ok, this has gone on long enough. Truce?"

Kitty finally nodded her head in agreement, saying while taking a deep breath, "Ok, truce."

Rouge soon stood up slowly after this, commenting, "Unbelievable… You actually went toe to toe with me the whole battle. You're definitely a better fighter than I ever thought possible."

Kitty meanwhile soon stood up herself, though currently down on one knee, as she could barely stand for the time being due to the pain and being completely drained physically for that matter too.

Rouge though added with a frown while holding her scarred right cheek with her right hand, "And yet, you could have used all of this energy in helping Sonic take out Eggman's robot rather than a lowlife bounty hunter like myself."

In spite of her rebuking words, Kitty knew Rouge had a point there.

"Why, Catwoman, why were you so determined to fight me when there were more important things at hand?" Rouge demanded. "Are you really that prideful of an individual?"

Kitty then looked back and glanced at Cream's facial expressions. She could sense deep disappointment in her eyes, even a bit of traumatization in her body language as well.

In that moment, Kitty felt tremendous guilt for her previous actions. Nevertheless, she said, trying to justify them, "I just couldn't let you get away with what you had done. This whole time, you manipulated us and even pretended to be on our side, just so you could get a Chaos Emerald."

Kitty soon added, glaring at Rouge, "That was something I just couldn't overlook. The fact you even made Topaz believe your sob story was more than I could stand. You had to be punished."

"And what good did that do?" Rouge countered. "Did you beating me to a pulp fix anything or make me want to change?"

Kitty again couldn't admit Rouge was right in that regard.

"Face it, Catwoman; you did this because you wanted to give me a lil payback." Rouge said with fierce accusation.

"Maybe I did." Kitty replied softly. "Nevertheless, had I overlooked this, you would gotten away with being a double agent, even rewarded for your efforts since nobody would believe me that you double crossed us at all."

"If Eggman was taken down, would that really have been so bad?" Rouge shot back. "After all, that's the most important thing, is it not?"

"That still doesn't excuse the fact you used this battle as an opportunity to get yourself some jewels." Kitty argued. "You even stooped so low as to help Eggman kidnap Cream. How could you do such a despicable thing?"

Cream by this time gasped in deep horror, saying to Rouge, "Please tell me that isn't true, Miss Rouge. You didn't do something like that, did you?"

Rouge though played it cool, replying, "Don't listen to her, Cream. This jealous feline is just trying to spread more rumors about me because it's very obvious now she's out to make me the villain here."

"I don't have to make you the villain." Kitty shot back. "You made yourself one. And furthermore, don't you dare lie to Cream about this. How else do you explain coming to my aid at the exact moment Eggman's robot was about to finish me off?"

"Maybe I just happened to fly by and notice. Did you ever think of that?" Rouge retorted.

"That still doesn't explain why you never attempted to rescue Cream after you flew off to retaliate against Eggman." Kitty countered. "I saw you go after him and not return until the following morning. So what were you doing that whole time?"

Cream by this point was now starting to wonder if there was some truth to Kitty's claims, especially after Rouge stuttered, trying to find a suitable answer to her question. Instead, she shouted a few seconds later, "Enough already! This doesn't concern Cream anyhow. This is between you and me."

"That's where you're wrong, Rouge." Kitty said with a frown. "It does concern her since we wouldn't have fought had Cream not been held hostage in the first place."

"Again, you're just spreading rumors, trying to turn this little girl against me." Rouge shot back. "And that is quite shameful on your part."

Kitty meanwhile soon walked over to her equipment that she had put aside during the fight, where she dug out her wireless headset, soon attaching around her head again. After she had done this, the feline agent said with a sigh, "I guess you'll do whatever you have to do to cover your tracks, am I right?"

Rouge again gritted her teeth in anger, replying, "Are you done with your mudslinging already, or are you actually go to go so far as to try again to turn Topaz against me too?"

"No, actually I'm not going to do that." Kitty answered softly, pressing a button on her radio head set. "Why should I? Since I know you'll just lie about it the next time we see her, what's the point?"

This response actually let Rouge's guard down a bit, as she was surprised to hear Kitty not pursue it further.

Kitty then said to the female bat, "Although, I want you to answer a question honestly."

"And what's that pray tell?" Rouge inquired.

"Why did you leave the room after Sonic and I tried to rescue Cream from her prison?" Kitty asked.

This question almost made Rouge do a double take, as she answered with a huff, "Now you're really grasping at straws here. I did no such thing."

"So, you still won't come clean about this even now, huh?" Kitty stated with a frown. "I should have suspected as much.

"Why should I admit to something I didn't do?" Rouge shot back. "Are you that determined to make me look bad?"

"I don't see the harm in telling me the truth." Kitty replied. "After all, it's not like Topaz will hear this since she's too far away now."

"Enough of your mind games already!" Rouge lashed out. "I will not let you stain my reputation anymore due to your despicable grudge!"

"Admit it, Rouge." Kitty said, narrowing her eyes at her. "You walked out of that room and let the door shut behind you, leaving me and Sonic alone to deal with Eggman's robot."

"For the last time, I did no such thing!" Rouge stated loudly, now starting to get flustered. "Stop making up lies about me!"

Cream then spoke up; saying to Rouge, "Wait a minute, Miss Rouge. I just remembered something now. I saw you standing at the door when Miss Kitty and Mr. Sonic came to my aid. But after the door closed, I noticed you were no longer there."

Hearing Cream say almost made Rouge panic inside, as she couldn't believe the young rabbit had remembered that exact detail.

"Why didn't you come in the room and help them out?" Cream asked Rouge.

Rouge though kept her composure, as she explained softly, "Well, when I saw Metal Sonic, I decided to get you some backup since I knew that machine was quite tough."

"But… you came back with Emerl." Cream argued. "That was the machine that helped Eggman kidnap me. How in the world did you get control of it?"

Again, Rouge started to panic, even sweat a bit inside. Nevertheless, she answered with hesitance, "Well, I thankfully was able to override its programming. That's why you heard me order it to attack Eggman's robot."

Cream however wasn't satisfied by her answer, as she asked further, "But, how were you able to take control of such a robot that I saw Eggman clearly take control of at the mansion? You could only do that if you…"

Cream then instantly gasped, as she stated in shock, "You… knew about Emerl."

Kitty during this time glared at Rouge while folding her arms together, as she knew the truth was slowly coming out.

"No, it's not what you think, Cream." Rouge replied, trying to diffuse the situation. "I just stole Eggman's controlling device and used it against him."

"But, if that's the truth, how did you know where Emerl currently was?" Cream inquired further.

"Because she was in this base before and saw where Eggman had kept it." Kitty stated, now speaking up. "Now it's starting to make perfect sense why that gray robot came into our room so quickly."

Rouge again gritted her teeth, saying angrily, "I'll have you know that's not true at all!"

"Oh no? How else did you know Eggman's robot was named Metal Sonic then?" Kitty interrogated.

"Maybe because it looks like Sonic, did you ever think of that?" Rouge shot back.

"That still doesn't explain why you called it that without any hesitation on your part." Kitty countered. "You could only do that because you were told the name."

Rouge by this time was coming completely unglued. Even Cream was almost convinced of Rouge's treachery, as she said with a whimper while looking at her with sad eyes, "Say it ain't so, Miss Rouge. Please tell me this is all one big misunderstanding."

Rouge though could only stutter, saying, "I… I… er, well…"

"It's time you fessed up, Rouge." Kitty told her bluntly. "Your conniving ways have finally caught up with you."

With Kitty still glaring at her intently, Rouge finally snapped inside.

She then growled loudly inside and said to her shouting, "All right, Catwoman, if you're determined to make this a bigger deal than helping Sonic defeat Eggman, then fine!"

Rouge soon added a second later, "Yes, I admit it! I left you and Sonic in there alone with Metal Sonic, and I'm not sorry I did either!"

Cream instantly gasped in horror, as Rouge continued, "And since I know you're going to ask me why, I'll save you the trouble and tell you."

She then added with a hiss in her voice, "I did it because of you! You, who had the nerve to come here and actually dared to make me look bad just because I like to have a little fun with my current job… that was more than I could tolerate."

Kitty strangely didn't answer a word to her after hearing this, as she felt didn't need to add anything to Rouge's confession.

"After you made a fool of me during our training session together, I wanted to give you a painful object lesson in humility," Rouge said, still with anger in her voice, "just to show you who's really in charge around this government agency."

Kitty again didn't answer her. Instead, she just shook her head with disgust.

Rouge then added further, "That's why I did all of this, from turning you over to Eggman, to even deserting you on the Egg Carrier. I did it because I wanted you to suffer!"

Rouge had said that last line with so much hate, Kitty could swear venom was spewing from her mouth.

"I would have gotten away it too, had I not underestimated you again." Rouge reiterated. "But alas, I did, and I ended up paying for it even more than you." She then added with deep disgust. "What a twist of irony!"

"So, you finally came clean with us." Kitty stated with deep disappointment in her voice, now speaking up. "I have to say, you stooped even lower than I ever thought you would."

Rouge though wasn't concerned about that, as she retorted, "Just stop with the self-righteous talk already, feline! You proved with your recent actions that you're capable of being just as devious when you want to be."

Kitty however ignored that accusation off, as Rouge added, "Anyway, it doesn't matter anymore anyway. What I said in this room, nobody will believe you. I doubt they'll even listen to Cream about it since she's only a young child. So go ahead, I dare you to try and tell Topaz what I just said."

"I don't have to say a word to her." Kitty retorted. "Because there's no need to add anything you didn't already confess."

Kitty's word confused Rouge, that is she until heard over Kitty's radio, "I can't believe you, Rouge! You actually left Kitty to die?"

That voice, was none other Topaz's, who had overheard everything Rouge had said through the radio receiver. As it turned out, Kitty had locked her frequency onto the main G.U.N radio's, where Topaz inadvertently overheard Rouge's confession.

"Topaz…?"

Rouge now looked on completely dumbfounded, as Topaz said in a sob, "How could you do such a horrible thing? I thought you were a better than that!"

"How did she overhear…?"

"I activated the speaker button on my radio headset." Kitty explained. "I knew it was the only way you'd ever be found out."

Rouge then instantly gave Kitty a fierce glare, saying while seething, "You… YOU!"

"Why don't you actually stop pointing the finger at me and point it at yourself for a change?" Kitty countered. "You brought this on yourself when you decided to help out Eggman on the side."

Even now, the manipulating bat was still seething big time inside, but was interrupted, as Topaz said softly, "I trusted you, Rouge. You said Kitty was just jealous when she brought those accusations to me, but she was right. You were a double agent this whole time. I can't believe you."

"Topaz, please, I…"

"Save it, Rouge." Topaz said interrupting, now speaking heartbroken. "I don't want to hear any more of your lies."

Rouge could only look on with guilt, as she heard Topaz add, "Kitty, I'm so sorry for not believing you earlier. You were only trying to warn me, but I just didn't want to accept the truth a good friend of mine was secretly plotting against us."

"Topaz, I swear I never plotted against you." Rouge reiterated. "I meant what I said. I do value you as you my friend and would never want to do anything to hurt you."

"What difference does that make?" Topaz replied, still trying to hold back the sorrow in her voice. "You still plotted against Kitty, who is a friend I value almost as much as I did you, until now. For you to do that and not even consider how much it would hurt me… I guess you really don't care about me as much as you claim."

Rouge was now silent inside, as Topaz's words had put her to shame.

She then looked back at Cream, who too was completely horrified by Rouge's words, saying softly with a sob in her throat, "Why would you want to hurt Miss Kitty, Rouge? She's done nothing to you to deserve such treatment."

Rouge again had nothing to say, as the guilt inside of her was building and building.

Topaz eventually spoke up again, saying deeply grieved, "Go on, Rouge. Go join Eggman and help his cause already. At least you made it clear you're not on our side."

But Rouge didn't move. Instead, she turned away and looked at the floor with her head down. She then said to the feline agent with a sigh, "You ought to be real proud of yourself, Kitty. Because of you, you ended up turning my dear friend Topaz against me. Nice going."

"Still blaming me for your own bad decisions even now, Rouge?" Kitty countered. "I did nothing to cause Topaz to no longer trust you. As I said earlier, you did that to yourself after deciding to conspire with Eggman."

Rouge sadly couldn't argue with this, as she stated after a brief pause, "Well, I think one think there's one thing we can agree on. You brought out the worst in me."

Kitty looked at Rouge perplexed, as she added, "Before you came along, I had it good here. I was a trustworthy G.U.N agent with the big shots, was able to collect gems on the side. Heck, I was even able to become friends with Topaz after getting to know her, or should I say until now."

Rouge had said that last line with deep regret in her voice.

"But once you came onboard, that all changed." Rouge stated with a sigh. "You weren't like the other G.U.N agents I could tease and outwit with ease. No, you actually fought back and even went so far as to outsmart me during a jewelry heist I thought for sure you wouldn't be able to pin on me."

"What exactly are you getting at, Rouge?" Kitty inquired.

Rouge then looked at the feline agent and replied with a frown, "You made me deeply hate you. Your whole demeanor, the way you operated, it just made me burn with anger inside every time I looked at you."

Kitty though by this time had already figured out Rouge vehemently disliked her by the actions from her body language.

"I suppose it still doesn't excuse what I did." Rouge said with another sigh. "Nevertheless, whether you want to admit it or not, you did play a part in this whole mess."

Kitty strangely didn't argue about this, as she had to admit, Rouge had a bit of a point there.

Moments later, Rouge walked towards Cream's Plexiglas prison, now staring at intently.

Cream meanwhile looked at Rouge, now deeply frightened, asking, "What are you going to do, Rouge?"

Even Kitty was about to say something, when she heard Rouge say to Cream softly, "Stand back."

Before the feline could react, the female bat spread her wings, where she then flew into the air, soon hovering near the hole of the tubular prison.

Then, in one quick swoop, Rouge flew inside and grabbed Cream by her shoulders.

Cream during this time started to panic, as she didn't know what the female bat was doing.

Even Kitty was a bit horrified while she watched, as she said, "What do you think you're doing, Rouge?"

Rouge though answered her question, as she then flew into air, soon securing the young rabbit in her arms.

Within seconds, Rouge methodically flew out of the tube, carefully trying to avoid the sharp edges made earlier by Metal Sonic and Emerl.

After she landed, Kitty looked on deeply perplexed, as Rouge turned to her and said, "All right, she's free. Go ahead and rescue her now."

"You… you actually helped Cream escape?" Kitty stated dumbfounded. "I… don't believe it."

"Are you really that surprised?" Rouge inquired with a frown.

"Well, yes, to be perfectly honest." Kitty replied with hesitance. "I thought… after you were found out… you would just leave."

Rouge then gave her a dirty look, answering, "That goes to show you how little you know about me. Just because I can be very shady at times, doesn't mean I'm so heartless that I don't care about helping others when they need it, like Cream here."

This statement ironically actually made Kitty start to feel some form of sympathy for Rouge now, even a bit of guilt.

Cream even now looked at the female bat with a look of gratitude on her face, commenting, "Thank you. I'm touched that you cared enough to risk hurting herself in order to save me."

"It was nothing really." Rouge replied softly. "Besides, I knew Kitty wouldn't be able to get you out by herself."

Kitty at first wondered if that was another subtle jab aimed at her, but soon noticed something that made her forget about it, exclaiming, "Rouge, your right arm is bleeding!"

Rouge quickly turned to look at, and there she saw the tear in her gloves, as well as the cut in her cut. She then said shrugging her shoulders, "It's just a minor flesh wound. No big deal."

Before Kitty could respond to this, Rouge quickly walked towards the window, the same one she tried to leave earlier and said to Kitty, looking at her, "Anyway, I think I better go now. I'll just make things worse if I stay."

Cream quickly gasped in disbelief, as she then said, trying to plead with her, "Please don't go, Miss Rouge. It's not too late for you to make up for your past mistakes."

Hearing the young rabbit say that actually softened the female bat inside, as Rouge actually displayed a bit of a warm smile at her.

Nonetheless, Rouge replied to Cream with a look of sadness now on her face, "I appreciate you actually wanting me to stay, but I just cannot, especially after everything I've done."

Kitty then tried to reason with her, saying, "Cream may have a point here. If you stay and help us out, maybe that would convince Topaz to give you another chance."

"I doubt she will." Rouge answered, looking away, shaking her head. "I know I really hurt her after she found out about my little secret." She then added, looking at Kitty, "And to be honest, I can't blame her at all. I know I really screwed up here."

Before Kitty could respond to this, Rouge added, "Plus, I have a lot of thinking to do now anyway."

She then walked towards the window, turning to look at Kitty once she was near it, and said, "You want to know something really sad?"

"What?" Kitty inquired.

Rouge soon lowered her head in shame, soon replying, "I actually almost decided to not go through with it."

"Go through with what?" Kitty asked.

"You know… leading into this room for Eggman to trap in." Rouge explained with hesitance in her voice.

At that moment, it instantly hit Kitty what she was talking about. "You mean… when you stood there in front of the door for about twenty seconds, that was you trying to talk yourself out of it?"

Rouge quickly nodded her head, answering, "When Eggman seriously wounded Topaz, I was so angry with that mad man, I wanted to break off our deal right there just to spite him."

"Why didn't you then?" Kitty demanded with a frown, putting her hands at her waist. "We could have avoided all of this!"

"Yea, I know…" Rouge answered with a sigh. "I guess you could say my deep dislike for you as well as my love for gems overpowered the desire to walk out of it."

Rouge then added with a look of deep regret on her face, "That was a pretty foolish decision on my part now that I look back on it."

Seconds later, the female bat said after a brief period of silence, now looking at the window, "Anyway, I better be going now. Take care of Cream for me, will you?"

"Rouge, wait a second." Kitty said, still trying to plead with her. "I can't defeat Eggman without you. Please stay."

Rouge quickly answered after a long pause with a sigh, still looking at the window, "I just can't. Right now, I'm so confused emotionally that I know I'll be more of a burden to you than a help."

"That's not true, Rouge." Kitty argued. "You can still do a lot of good for us. I know you can. Just believe in yourself."

Rouge though wouldn't be deterred by her pleadings any longer, as she soon jumped through the window and flew out, saying softly on the way out, "Farewell… Agent Katswell."

Cream even tried to get her to come back, by shouting to her after running towards the window, "Come back, Miss Rouge. Please don't leave us!"

Unfortunately though, Cream's words fell on deaf ears.

Cream then turned her to look back at Kitty and said, "I don't understand. Why would she just leave after going to the trouble to free me?"

Kitty though just shook her head, replying, "I really don't know. My guess is she just couldn't handle the guilt inside of her for breaking Topaz's heart."

Cream lowered her head slightly in response to this, as she couldn't help but feel some pity for Rouge inside herself.

Moments later, Kitty thought with sadness in her eyes, _Oh, Topaz… did I go too far in trying to reveal the truth to you about Rouge?_

After a brief pause, Kitty finally walked over to her where she had laid her weapons and said to Cream after picking them up and placing them in their designated spots, "Stay here for now while I go give Sonic a hand in the other room."

"You think Mr. Sonic is doing ok?" Cream asked with concern.

"I hope so." Kitty replied with sigh. At that moment, she again felt very guilty inside for choosing to punish Rouge instead of helping him out.

_I sure hope nothing bad has happened to him. _She thought somberly._ I'll never forgive myself if he ends up seriously injured or worse because of me._

Seconds later, Kitty attempted to run towards the hole in the other room and jump inside of it. However, she wouldn't get the chance.

Without warning, the part of the wall she was running towards exploded with fury, resulting in bits of it went flying everywhere.

Kitty instantly leaped toward towards Cream and used her body to shield her from the debris. Thankfully though, none of the big pieces came close to hitting them.

"What's happening?" Cream asked deeply frightened.

"I think Eggman had his robot turn up the heat on us." Kitty explained with concern in her voice.

Indeed she was right. As it turned out, Metal Sonic was the one responsible for causing the blast through the wall, now standing still in front of the heavily damaged wall.

Kitty then turned her head to the left after hearing a loud groan, and there she saw Sonic lying on the floor on his back to her right, seriously dazed and banged up.

"Sonic!" Kitty at this point was at a point of near panic, as she knew the odds were heavily against her now.

Moments later, Eggman finally came over the PA system and boasted with a hearty laugh, "Well, well, Sonic, so much for you bragging about you being able to take down my secret weapon. I knew your arrogance would come back to bite you soon enough."

At that moment, Kitty was very torn inside, as she didn't know whether to try and help Sonic out, or try and attack Metal Sonic while guarding Cream.

Eggman meanwhile spoke up again, saying to Kitty, "Anyway, before I have Metal Sonic here finish off this wretched hedgehog, I want to personally thank you for being stupid enough to fight with Rouge instead of trying to stop me. Who knows? Had you actually given this warthog a hand instead, you two might have been able to defeat my secret weapon."

To hear Eggman praise her made the feline agent feel lower than dirt inside, as a compliment from your worst enemy was certainly nothing to boast about.

"But enough talk." Eggman stated loudly. "It's time I ended this pathetic battle of ours once and for all!"

Eggman then gave the command for Metal Sonic to attack.

But before it could, Kitty finally pulled out her RPG-7, saying with a threat, "I'll blast that robot of yours dares to take another step!" Kitty during this time had subtly loaded her RPG-7 with a warhead during Eggman's monologue.

Eggman though just laughed at her threat, retorting, "Pathetic, furball. Don't you realize my machine is too fast to be hit by such a weapon?"

Kitty however didn't lose her resolve, as she replied, "You better not underestimate me again, Doctor. If I could take out your big machines on the Egg Carrier, then I can certainly take out this metal replica of Sonic."

But again, Eggman laughed at her words, countering, "Ha! That's where you're wrong, Agent Katswell! This machine here isn't like those other metal scraps you faced." He then added with glee in his voice, "It's much worse than them."

Before Kitty could answer back, Eggman told her firmly, "Rest assured, you will not be getting the jump on me this time."

"We shall see about that." Kitty shot back.

"So, still feisty even now, eh?" Eggman commented. "Well, that's fine with me!"

Eggman then decided to have Metal Sonic take her out first instead, as he wanted to shut her up once and for all.

Kitty though was ready for this, thinking with a firm look in her eye, _Good; he's falling right into my trap, just like I thought he would._

Moments later, Metal Sonic charged after Kitty with fury to attack.

Kitty soon did likewise, but only as a front of to keep her true strategy from being revealed. However, once she was within 5 feet of Sonic's metal impersonator, she quickly pulled a grenade from her pocket.

Metal Sonic during this time unwisely tried to attack Kitty, attempting to hit her with her own martial arts moves it had copied earlier, none other than a flying kick aimed at her head.

Kitty though was ready for it, as she quickly heaved the grenade at its metal head, where she then leaped into the air a split second later.

The feline's agent aim was right on the money, as her grenade hit Metal Sonic directly between its eyes. Metal Sonic was immediately stunned by the attack, as its CPU vision began to briefly short in and out due to the damage caused by the grenade explosion.

Eggman's robot however would not be stunned for very long, as it soon shook off the effects and went to attack again.

But Kitty instantly took advantage of its temporarily lapse, as she had summersaulted into the air, grabbing another magnet bomb from her pocket, where she then stuck it onto the back its metal head in one precise swoop.

After she landed on her feet, Metal Sonic quickly turned around and attempted to attack.

That move though would be completely negated, as the magnetic bomb exploded exactly one second later, stunning Metal Sonic further.

Kitty again took advantage of this, as she quickly grabbed Topaz's M32 MGL and fired a grenade at its head yet again, trying to wreck its CPU vision further.

Again, Kitty's aim was right on target, knocking the blue spiky robot onto the ground flat on its back, where it again began to spark a bit inside.

Deciding to put it out of its misery, Kitty quickly ran up to the stunned robot and attempted to fire another grenade, this time directly at its inner chest.

But Metal Sonic wasn't about to let that happen.

A split second before Kitty could fire; Metal Sonic smacked the weapon out of her hand with one quick swoop, knocking it over twenty feet away to the left.

Kitty looked on deeply baffled, as she couldn't believe how fast it had responded.

Metal Sonic then stood up and began to charge up a spin dash aimed directly at her.

Kitty meanwhile attempted to grab her RPG-7 again and try to fend it off.

Thankfully though, it wouldn't be necessary, as Sonic finally came to her aid, knocking Metal Sonic backwards on the ground with his own spin dash attack.

Even Kitty was surprised to see Sonic back on his feet so soon again.

Sonic then told her, still showing signs of fatigue, "Quick, get Cream out of here. I'll cover you two in the meantime."

"But you can't possibly fight him in your weakened state." Kitty argued.

"Don't worry about me." Sonic reiterated. "Just go!"

With Metal Sonic quickly getting back on his feet, Kitty did as he asked.

Once she ran towards Cream, Kitty picked up the young rabbit in her arms and carried her out of harm's way.

"Where are you taking me?" Cream asked her with fright.

"I'm getting you out of the line of fire so you won't get hurt." Kitty replied.

"But what about Mr. Sonic?" Cream inquired, still looking at her deeply terrified.

"He'll be fine for now." Kitty replied, trying to reassure calm her down. Although, she couldn't help but think a few seconds later, _I hope…_

While this was going on, Metal Sonic unwisely decided to try to hit Agent Katswell with a spin dash while she ran towards the other room

Sonic however took advantage of Eggman's robot's folly, as he instead spin dashed it to the ground a split second before it could attack its target, slamming the blue spiky robot directly from the back of its metal head.

Metal Sonic though quickly got back on its feet, as Sonic then said to it while pointing a finger at Eggman's robot, "You're going to have to get through me first if you want them, metal faker!"

Not surprisingly, Metal Sonic gave Sonic his wish, as it quickly charged up a spin dash aimed at the blue hedgehog.

A split second later, Sonic too charged up a spin dash and prepared to attack.

Once they were charged up, both of them spin dashed towards their opponent, determined to knock the other back.

However, that would prove easy said than done, as both hedgehogs ricocheted off each other like Ping-Pong balls over and over.

While this was going on, Kitty finally moved Cream to safety, as she gently placed the young rabbit onto the ground behind the hole in the seriously damaged wall in other room.

"Stay low and keep out of sight." Kitty told her.

Cream nodded her head in agreement, as the feline agent added a couple of seconds later, "Don't make any noise unless it's an emergency, ok?"

"Sure thing, Miss Kitty." Cream replied softly.

Kitty then ran back towards the room where Sonic was currently in while Cream watched her while peeking from behind one of the broken parts of the wall, thinking with deep concern on her face, _this is looking very bad. I sure hope she can help Mr. Sonic before things get any worse._

Back in the other room, Sonic and Metal Sonic's spin dash duel continued, as neither could force their opponent into submission. The two of them again and again bounced off each other, desperately trying to knock the other backwards.

This soon went on for over forty five seconds, which soon began to tire Sonic out.

Even Kitty sadly was helpless to do anything after she was back in the room due them spin dashing each other so quickly.

Finally, the two of them now went to out-spin dash the other once and for all, as they soon locked spikes and tried to get the other to flinch in order to gain the advantage.

Seeing this, Kitty soon retrieved her M32 again and aimed it at them, as she was very tempted to fire a grenade at Metal Sonic in order to damage it further.

But with Sonic being too close to it, the feline agent quickly thought better of this move, now waiting anxiously for one of them break off of it and attack soon after.

Twenty seconds later, the interlocked spin dash finally broke free, but not in the way Kitty had hoped. Metal Sonic unfortunately had worn the blue hedgehog down, as he could no longer keep this up due to being exhausted.

Metal Sonic sadly took full advantage of this, as he instantly rammed Sonic into the wall behind him, using its spin dash to hit the blue hedgehog as hard it could.

"Sonic!" Kitty looked on horrified after they crashed into the wall with fury. Even Cream gasped in disbelief while watching.

Eggman's reaction though was completely the opposite, as he soon loudly chuckled over the PA system, "Yes! My secret weapon's got that meddling rodent down for the count now!"

Sonic unfortunately could barely stand now, as Metal Sonic's attack only intensified his pain and fatigue. To make matters worse, part of his chest wound had slight opened up a bit, as blood began to seep through it.

Eggman then ordered with glee in his voice, "Cut him in two, Metal Sonic! It's time to end this futile battle once and for all!"

Kitty though wasn't about to let Eggman's machine do that, as she shouted while running towards it, "NO!"

"Your cries will do you no good now, furball." Eggman retorted. "Sonic is finished and there's nothing you can do to help him."

Kitty then aimed the M32 at Metal Sonic and said countering, "Don't you dare count me out, Doctor!"

But Eggman again laughed at her, firing back, "If you're foolish enough to try and shoot one of those weapons at Metal Sonic, he'll just evade it with ease. In fact, you may end up hitting this infernal rodent in the process."

Kitty unfortunately knew this was true, but with no other options, she had to take a risk.

"Your robot may be fast." Kitty stated, "But it isn't witty enough to outsmart me!"

"Want to bet?" Eggman challenged.

"Just try me!" Kitty countered, again pointing the weapon at Metal Sonic.

Eggman by this was completely amused by her big words, replying, "All right, bigmouth… go on, shoot… I dare you in fact!"

Kitty knew this move would be extremely risky on her part, but she couldn't back out of it now.

_I will make Eggman pay for daring to underestimate me._

Moments later, Kitty prepared to aim and shoot.

Metal Sonic during this time looked directly at the feline agent intently, as it was now preparing to evade.

While this was going on, Sonic by now was starting to get his 2nd wind again, as he was preparing to take advantage of Eggman's robot clearly not paying any attention to him.

Kitty meanwhile hesitated to the pull the trigger, as she couldn't help but wonder if she would be the one who would inadvertently kill Sonic.

Nevertheless, she thought with determination in her eyes, _I must do this… It's the only way to defeat Metal Sonic._

A split second before fired, Sonic tried to get her attention, but very discreetly in order to keep Eggman from finding out.

Kitty soon saw moving his eyes to the left again and again. This move at first deeply confused her, as she thought, _what's he trying to tell me?_

"Are you going to fire or not?" Eggman demanded, finally out of patience. "If you're too much of a coward, then I'll save you the time and just have my robot kill Sonic for you."

Kitty though finally understood what Sonic was trying to tell her, as she thought, _Oh, I get it now._

A big grin on her face soon came on her face, even puzzling Eggman.

Moments later, Kitty fired a grenade towards the left side of Metal Sonic.

As expected, Metal Sonic moved to the right to avoid it. But that move would soon heavily backfire.

Once Metal Sonic started to move to the left, Sonic mustered as much strength as he had left and attempted to spin dash it in the same direction.

Thanks to his high agility and quick thinking, Sonic's subtle strategy paid off, as he was able to spin dash Metal Sonic from behind just enough that is temporarily stunned the spiky blue robot.

The grenade meanwhile exploded once it hit the wall, but didn't do any harm to Sonic since he had spin dashed enough to the right to be out of its range.

Metal Sonic though unfortunately made another bad decision, as it soon turned toward Sonic to try and attempted to use Rouge's screw kick on the blue hedgehog, who now was gasping for air after using just about everything left in him to spin dash his foe.

Kitty however was ready to counter the second it attempted this.

Quickly grabbed her RPG-7, Kitty aimed it at Metal Sonic and fired.

Metal Sonic during this time flew high into the air and was in the process of attempting the screw kick.

Unfortunately for Eggman's robot though, it would not happen. Kitty's RPG hit Metal Sonic directly on the back of its head a split second before executing the screw kick, resulting in an intense explosion upon impact.

Eggman by this time looked on in horror, shouting, "No way, I can't believe this!"

But it was indeed true. Kitty's RPG attack had been so strong; Metal Sonic was shorting in and out fervently from the excessive damage to its metal body.

Kitty even thought the machine was within seconds of blowing up, making her run towards Sonic and shout at him, "Run for cover! That thing could self-destruct any second now!"

Sonic again forced himself to get up and try to get out of harm's way, as he and Kitty ran behind the wall where Cream was and dove behind it.

Strangely, Metal Sonic did not short out and blow up. Instead, it continued to spark again and again, where it eventually then fizzed out, falling to the ground dead.

Kitty and Sonic soon peeked past the wall and saw the aftermath.

"Is… it dead?" Cream asked.

"It looks it." Kitty replied, still very suspicious.

Eggman meanwhile was now beside himself. To see his robot laying on the ground with no life in it made his blood boil with rage.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" He shouted, banging his dash again and again violently. "It can't be!"

Eggman had banged his dash so much, that his equipment began to spark from the earlier damage.

"How could they beat my secret weapon?" Eggman demanded, still incensed. "It's not possible! IT'S JUST NOT POSSIBLE!"

Eggman though knew what had happened, now breathing in a hissing like manner.

"That wretched feline… I underestimated her again." Eggman commented softly, still in a fit of rage. "I should have seen this coming. Whenever I think I've got her cornered, she always rises to the occasion."

Seconds later, he stood up from his chair and declared loudly, "Well, she won't be interfering with my plans any longer! I'm going to personally skin that cat alive if it's the last thing I do!"

Eggman then grabbed a weapon from his control room, which strangely was none other than a spear gun. "I'm going to violently impale that vile G.U.N agent, and make a rug with from her fur once I gut her through and through! She'll learn once and for all, that I am not to be toyed with!"

And with that statement, Eggman soon headed out of his control room and down the stairs.

While this was going on, Kitty soon noticed Sonic's wounded slightly reopened and asked, "You all right, Sonic?"

"Don't worry about me." Sonic replied, trying to act tough. "I'll be ok in a bit."

Cream however knew better, as she walked towards Sonic and said while walking up to him, "Here, allow me to use my dress to press against the wound in order to stop the bleeding."

Sonic, to say the least, couldn't help but feel very awkward about this idea, especially since she was only 6.

"Uh, that's ok, Cream." Sonic replied. "I appreciate the thought though."

Cream though wouldn't take no for an answer, as she had Sonic sit down on the floor, where she then knelt on the ground, grabbed the lower part of her garment and pressed it against his chest wound.

Sonic was now blushing very heavily inside while she did this, saying, "Cream, please stop doing that. This feels very, very wrong to me."

"There's nothing wrong about it, Mr. Sonic." Cream answered softly, looking at him with a warm smile. "I used my dress to help stop Amy's wound from bleeding, so why can't I do the same for you?"

Kitty by this time couldn't help but feel touched by Cream's thoughtfulness, as she told him, "It's ok, Sonic. Cream's just trying to help you. Go ahead and let her do it."

Sonic though still felt very uneasy about the whole idea, but decided to let her help him with his wound anyway.

As she continued to press her garment against it, Cream commented to Sonic, "I wish I knew why your face is so red. Is the blood flowing towards your head now?"

Kitty soon began to giggle to herself, replying to the young rabbit, "You'll understand one day, sweetie. It's a kind of a complex matter to explain."

While Cream looked at the feline agent puzzled, Sonic soon spoke up and said awkwardly, trying not to sound ungrateful for her help, "Uh, thanks for caring enough to tend to my wound. I do appreciate you going out of your way to do this."

Cream then smiled at him again and replied, "You're welcome, Mr. Sonic. It's the least I can do for rescuing me."

Twenty five seconds later, Cream stated to Sonic after pulling her outfit away from it to look at his wound, "I think it's stopped now."

Kitty soon noticed this too, as she said to the young rabbit, "Great job, honey. You were a big help."

Cream then giggled at her words and soon hugged Sonic tightly, saying, "See, aren't you glad you let me help you now?"

Sonic again was blushing at her affection, but replied hesitantly, "Yea… I guess you were right."

After she let go of him, Kitty said, "Anyway, we better get a move on. No telling what Eggman has up his sleeve now."

Sonic nodded his head after standing up, replying, "Indeed, let's get that maniac!"

Moments later, as Eggman was now only ten steps away from being within range of hitting his target, it then hit Kitty, as she slapped her forehead, saying, "Wait a minute.. What about Cream though? We can't just go after Eggman without someone guarding her."

Sonic quickly put his hands at the edges of his waist, replying, "Doh, man, you're right! Eggman would most definitely use Cream against us if we brought her along."

After a brief pause, he asked, "So what do we then?"

Eggman by this time was in finally position to strike, as Kitty answered after he softly opened the door in front of him, "I think we have no choice but to get her to safety first. Since we fought so hard to rescue her, it would be folly to risk her getting caught again or even hurt for that matter, just to go after that mad man."

Sonic hated to admit it, but knew she was right. He then said with a sigh, "Very well then. Let's get Cream out of here."

The three of them then turned towards the door with the stairs leading down and began to walk towards it.

Eggman, meanwhile, had his spear gun firmly in his hand and was now aiming it at her while creeping behind the door, thinking, _that's right, furball. Keep walking. Once you get close to those stairs, I'm going to gut you up really good!_

Kitty was now within five feet of Eggman's targeted area, as the mad doctor had his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot.

Moments later, all of them heard a loud sparkling sound

"Huh?" Kitty turned around and looked at Metal Sonic, soon thinking, _did that robot just… Nah, it can't be. It fizzled out over a minute ago._

Kitty again turned her head and was in the process of walking away.

But again, she couldn't even take two steps before she heard the same sparkling sound again, this time much louder and more fervently.

Sonic now turned around and commented with disgust, "You gotta be kidding me!"

Even Eggman finally let down his guard temporarily and noticed this, making him think, _Is Metal Sonic… actually trying to restart itself?_

Eggman's words would turn out to be right, as Metal Sonic soon began to spark to the point that it actually stood up.

"What the…?"

Metal Sonic's red eyes again glowed bright red, with electricity soon surging through its body a second time.

This now put everyone on alert, as they all realized Metal Sonic was back, now looking even more powerful than before.

"Impossible!" Kitty declared with shock. "How could that thing still be functioning after all the damage we did to it?"

Eggman though instantly figured it out, as he said to himself with a grin on his face, "Metal Sonic has activated his backup generator from within. Perfect…"

As it turned out, Eggman had installed one as a precaution, but was unable to activate it from his control panel due to the electrical damage he had done to his system earlier.

Eggman then ordered his robot after stepping into the room, "Finish them off, my special project!"

Metal Sonic however did not follow his instructions. Instead, he turned towards the mad doctor and glared at him intently.

"Don't just stand there, you bucket of bolts. Get them already!" Eggman shouted again after a brief pause.

But Metal Sonic again did not obey him. Instead, he charged towards Eggman, now completely freaking him out.

"What do you think you're doing?" Eggman demanded in shock.

Seeing his own robot attempting to attack him at full speed instantly made Eggman retreat in fear, slamming the door behind him and running up the stairs

Even Kitty and Sonic couldn't believe what they were seeing either, as Metal Sonic during that time was trying to break down the door and go after him.

"What's happened to that tin can?" Sonic inquired with concern. "Is he actually trying to kill his own creator?"

"Metal Sonic has gone berserk!" Eggman shouted inadvertently over his PA system while he was inside his control room a few seconds later. "Initiating emergency lockdown!"

Due to accidently bumping his microphone, he had carelessly turned it on while trying to activate the lockdown.

But Eggman's system would not respond at all. Because of the extensive damage he done to it before, it would not activate.

"What's wrong with this stupid thing?" Eggman demanded, trying to hit the button again and again. "Why won't it activate?"

Meanwhile downstairs, Kitty shouted to the others in a bit of panic, who also had heard Eggman's announcement, "We gotta move, now, now!"

Sonic and Cream didn't object to this at all, as they started to run for the door leading downstairs.

Eggman soon happened to notice them trying to flee, making him look on baffled, saying, "How did they figure out what I was trying to do? I didn't even…"

Instantly, it hit him, as he now saw the microphone button was lit.

"No! No! No! Are you telling me I actually gave away my plan that carelessly?" Eggman shouted.

Instantly, he growled with fury, shouting again, "Why does everything have to go wrong at the worst possible times?"

Ironically though, Eggman soon found out that wouldn't be entirely true.

Metal Sonic soon glanced over during his attempt to break down the door and saw them trying to bolt.

Since his robotic systems had officially gone berserk, it abruptly changed targets, as it now chased after them instead.

Eggman soon saw this himself, looking on baffled, commenting softly with a slight chuckle, "Well, what do you know? Metal Sonic's actually targeting them now. I guess my luck isn't so bad after all."

He then added with a frown on his face a few moments later, "If I could only initiate that infernal lockdown program now, they'd have nowhere to run!"

Nevertheless, Eggman was determined to get this program working by any means necessary, as he was wanted them cornered with no way to escape.

While this was going on, the three of them finally began to run down the stairs, with Kitty saying, "Hurry, we've got to get out of this base out as soon as possible."

"Can do, Kitty." Sonic replied, leading the way. "Let's juice and cut it loose!"

Once they were halfway down the first flight of stairs, Kitty then commented out of the blue, "I sure Eggman's robot doesn't try and come after us. We're in a very vulnerable spot at the moment."

"Relax." Sonic told her. "That metal faker of mine is too busy dealing with Eggbelly to notice us now."

Sonic's words sadly would end up hollow. Seconds later, they all heard the whirring sound of Metal Sonic from behind.

"No! It can't be!" Kitty shouted, turning her head around.

But indeed, it was.

Cream, who was bringing up the rear, trying as hard as she could to keep up with them, soon saw Metal Sonic coming towards her. This in turn made her freeze in her tracks and look on with deep fright on her face.

Kitty though ran back towards Cream and picked her up in her arms, where she then leaped into the air over Metal Sonic a split second before he could hit either one of them.

Sonic on the other hand wasn't about to back down or evade, even in his still weakened condition.

"So, back for more, eh, metal head?" Sonic challenged. "Well, that's fine with me!"

As Sonic went to charge a spin dash, Kitty shouted at him while extending her right hand, "Sonic, stop! You're not strong enough to fight it!"

But Sonic wasn't about to heed her words, as he continued to charge up and prepare to strike. Metal Sonic soon did likewise, as it was now targeting the blue hedgehog.

A split second later, the two of them went to attack each other, with each executing their spin dash at the exact same time. Like before, the two of them ricocheted off each other two times, trying to knock their foe backwards.

But again, it was a stalemate. Kitty even had to take some evasive measures when Metal Sonic came close to hitting her and Cream after bouncing off of Sonic.

Ironically, Kitty's warning of him being not being strong enough to beat Metal Sonic was starting to come true. After two times of bouncing off of the blue spiky robot, Sonic soon began to feel the fatigue and pain from earlier coming back in full force.

_Ah man, maybe I should have listened to Kitty. _Sonic thought with a frown after landing. _That thing is a lot stronger than before._

However, due to his ego, Sonic wasn't one to admit defeat or back down. He would again try to out-spin dash Eggman's secret weapon.

Thankfully though, Sonic wouldn't have to keep this up.

When Metal Sonic attempted to spin dash him again, it was abruptly blinded sided from behind, slamming the blue spiky robot into the wall nearby.

It wasn't done by Kitty, but by something that all of them had thought was out of the picture.

"Emerl?" Kitty looked on completely dumbfounded, as she herself saw this robot severely damaged after moving Cream to safety.

Even Eggman couldn't believe what was seeing while watching from his control panel. "WHAT? That robot is still functioning? Impossible!"

Indeed it was. In spite of the fact it was heavily damaged and sparking like crazy, Emerl had willed itself to press on and carry out Rouge's orders.

Moments later, Emerl grabbed Metal Sonic by its metal neck and prepared to finish it off.

Kitty then took advantage of this, saying to Sonic, "Let's go. Emerl's interference should buy us enough time to escape!"

Sonic at first was tempted to help Emerl out, but decided to comply, replying while nodding his head, "Let's race, ace!"

And with that statement, they bolted.

Cream on the other hand shouted to the gray robot from a distance while in Kitty's arms, "Defeat Eggman's robot for us, Emerl! I believe in you!"

Kitty even now was surprised by how Cream's attitude towards this robot had changed.

Cream then commented to the feline agent while they ran, "I knew Emerl deep down was a good robot. Eggman just made him go bad when he took me hostage."

"I hope you're right about that." Kitty replied softly.

While this was going on, Metal Sonic finally broke free of Emerl's grasp before it could hit it again and prepared to fight back.

Eggman by now had lost all his patience, as he shouted to Metal Sonic, "Destroy that meddling two timing menace!"

Metal Sonic would indeed do this, but not because of Eggman's orders, but because it had a vendetta to pay back Emerl for its sneak attack.

Back downstairs, Kitty commented to Sonic after reaching the next floor, "I sure wish we had some backup now. I wonder why Knuckles and Amy haven't returned yet to give us a hand since helping Topaz and the President off the island."

"Even Rouge appeared to have bailed on us." Sonic commented with a frown. "What is up with that?"

Kitty by now looked guilty after he mentioned her, making him ask the feline agent, "Speaking of which, how come you didn't come help me out where I was until after Eggman's robot blasted me into the room where Cream was being kept prisoner?"

Kitty again looked away, answering with hesitance, "Err, long story… Suffisive to say, I made a bad decision during that time and really regret it now."

Sonic didn't know what she meant by that, but replied, "Well, no point in blaming anyone now. Right now, we still have a chance to win this battle and stick it to Eggman, and that's good enough for me."

Kitty couldn't agree more with this, but nonetheless couldn't help but wonder she might have ended up jeopardizing their mission.

While this was going on, Knuckles finally broke through of Eggman's trap and was now free.

He then took a deep breath, as breaking down the last door had been very, very strenuous.

Moments later, the sirens from outside the bass finally blared where he currently was, making him wonder what just happened.

_Did Kitty and Sonic take care of Eggman?_

He then thought to himself, _but if they defeated him, why are the sirens around the base blaring loudly?_

Instantly, the red echidna figured out. _They must have rescued Cream and are attempting to get her out of the base, but Eggman is trying to prevent them from leaving!_

After he exited the door, he said after grabbing onto the wall with his fists, "I must get up there right away! Who knows what tricks that vile scientist has up his sleeve for them?

Knuckles then began to climb up the walls as fast as he could.

Meanwhile, on the island floor, Amy too heard the sirens, making her look on deeply concerned as well.

"Oh no, my Sonikku must be in serious trouble…"

As it turned out, Amy spent her whole time trying to find a way inside, but was completely unsuccessful in all her attempts.

"I've got to find a way to get up there!" Amy declared with anger. "But how?"

Moments later, she would ironically finally find her ticket in, by overhearing a conversation from about twenty feet away from behind one of the corners of the base.

Decoe and Becoe soon stood up from their hiding place in the bushes, as Decoe commented, "Hoo boy, looks like the hedgehog's caused serious trouble for Doctor Eggman."

"If only he would have let us use the secret entrance near the bottom of the base," Becoe replied with disgust. "Then we might have been able to help him tame that wild rodent."

_Secret entrance, eh? _Amy now grinned big, as she knew what to do to get inside.

"Where's that pink hedgehog by the way?" Decoe inquired with a frown. "I haven't seen her for over five minutes now."

"Do you think she finally gave it up and got a ride back to the ship?" Becoe pondered.

"Not possible." Decoe answered with a frown. "We would have seen her near the ocean shore if that was the case."

"Good point." Becoe replied. "We better find out where she is just in case she finds another way inside the base."

"I'm right here, bots." Amy declared, now walking towards them.

Both of Eggman's at first were completely startled, as she had snuck up on the both of them with relative ease.

"Ah! It's the pink brat!" Becoe stated with fear.

"Keep your cool, bolt brain." Decoe said, scolding him. "She's not that scary."

"Want to bet?" Amy retorted, now holding her Piko Hammer tightly in her arms.

"Ok, I take that back." Decoe said, looking on worried.

"All right boys, here's how we're going to do this…" Amy told them firmly. "You two are going to take me on in a little duel."

"What, are you crazy?" Decoe shot back.

"If you beat me, I'll turn myself in and you can hand me over to Dr. Eggman." Amy said.

"What's the catch?" Becoe demanded.

"If I win however, you have to turn yourselves over to G.U.N." Amy replied.

"You're crazy, fan girl." Becoe stated. "We don't stand a chance against you while you lug that huge hammer."

"Then I'll level the playing field and fight without it." Amy explained, tossing it aside. "Do we have a deal?"

After hearing that, Decoe and Becoe looked at each other and talked it over.

"Should we really trust her on this?" Becoe inquired, whispering "This could be a trap."

"You could be right…" Decoe replied. "But if this is legit and we beat her, Dr. Eggman will have to forgive us for our previous mistakes and let us back inside."

Becoe still was very hesitant, but decided to give it a go.

"Ok, we'll agree to your terms on one more condition." Becoe said, now looking at the pink hedgehog.

"What's that?" Amy inquired.

"That we get your hammer as a souvenir if we win and get to do what we please with it." Becoe explained firmly.

"Deal." Amy had answered this without a split second of hesitation.

"Ok then, let's get her!" Decoe stated to his robot brother. "With you helping me, and the brat fighting without her hammer, we should overpower her with ease in no time."

"Couldn't agree more." Becoe added. "She's a sitting duck now."

_You metal morons couldn't possibly be more wrong in this case. _Amy thought with a grin on her face.

Back on the main navy G.U.N ship, Commander Towers as well soon heard the sirens, making him very nervous inside now.

"I don't like the looks of this at all." The G.U.N Commander commented with a crown. "I better ready the attack right away."

He then walked towards the inner hull where the main network computer was and found the President there.

"Mr. President, can I help you with something?" Commander Towers asked.

"I'm just waiting for my phone to finish charging is all." He replied. "After that, I'll be on my way."

"Ah yes, of course. We'll have a G.U.N chopper escort you back to the city as soon as you're ready to leave, sir." The Commander told him.

Moments later, the President commented with arched eyebrows, "You know, I can't help but notice my phone is making weird sounds lately while I've been standing here."

"All phones make sounds when charging though, sir." The G.U.N Commander replied.

"Yes, but these are not any I've heard before." The President said. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it sounds like it's trying to install or download a program."

"Why would you say that?" Commander Towers inquired puzzled.

"Well, Eggman confiscated my phone and then gave it back to me three hours later while I was tied up." The President told him. "I still find it completely bizarre and bit strange."

At this point, Commander Towers said with a frown, "Maybe we should take a look at the phone then. If Eggman had his hands on it, there's no telling what he did to it."

"That's what Agent Katswell said to me as well." The President commented. "She even suggested I get rid of it."

"Well, while I'm sure she had good intentions, though I think she's being a bit too overdramatic there." The G.U.N Commander said firmly. "I'm sure it's just a small problem we can fix with a little tweak."

Commander Towers then opened the phone and examined it.

However, what he found out completely dumbfounded him.

"What did you see?" the President inquired.

"It looks like.. It's receiving incoming pictures sent to your inbox." The G.U.N Commander replied with arched eyebrows.

The President took a look at his phone as well, as he saw this was indeed the case.

"Well, I'll be… you're right." The President said. "They must be the new pictures my wife was going to send to my phone for me to upload to my computer later on."

Commander Towers at first bought that explanation, but then something made his eyebrows furrow.

"Something the matter, Commander?" The President asked.

"Well, it's just that… I couldn't help but notice these pictures were sent to your phone six hours ago." Commander Towers replied.

"Is that a problem?"

"I'm not sure, Mr. President. You were tied up during that time, so why would your wife be sending you pictures when she didn't even know you would be returning safely until just recently?"

The President was now in deep thought, as he put his hand under his chin to think this over.

"I don't know, but I just find this very, very suspicious." Commander Towers stated.

"Well, I'll ask the wife about it right away then." The President stated. "If she tells me she didn't send them, I'll instantly get rid of these pictures."

"Good thinking, sir."

The Commander then cleared his throat and said, "Anyway, I need to tend to the recent matter at hand."

"What's going on?" The President inquired.

The sirens at Eggman's island have blared." Commander Towers explained. "That tells me Eggman is on full alert and may attack at any time."

"I see…"

"Anyway, if you'll excuse me, Mr. President I'll need to muster the remaining Air Forces in order to deal with this threat right away."

The President then interrupted him, saying, "Hold on a minute.. Isn't Agent Katswell and her friends still in the base?"

Commander Towers looked away, but replied, "Yes, I believe they are…"

"Then why would send an air strike before getting her out of there?" The President demanded.

"Because, sir… If we delay it any longer, Eggman will more than likely send his missiles after us and blow us to kingdom come." The G.U.N Commander explained. "I already have given them over fifteen minutes. Giving them anymore time is too risky."

"What?"

"I'm afraid I have no choice but to execute the strike with them in the base in order to secure our safety." Commander Towers told him. "I'm sorry."

"You will do no such thing!" The President ordered. "They saved my life and helped me escape from the base. That was no small task on their part might I add."

"But, sir…"

"NO!" The President then looked him in the eye and said, "I'm warning you, Commander. If you dare try and send that strike, I will have you immediately fired and court marshaled."

"Don't you care at all about your life or those on this ship?" Commander Towers protested.

"I do, but I also care about those in the base, trying to take out Eggman now." The President answered firmly. "They deserve some more time before we launch any kind of counter strike."

"It's too risky!" The Commander argued.

"I don't care." The President replied with a frown. "They are brave warriors to courageously take on such a mad scientist in order to restore peace to our world. I say they've earned at least an extra ten minutes."

"That's too long." Commander Towers protested again.

"My decision is final." The President told him. "You will give them another ten minutes before even contemplating an air strike. Do I make myself clear?"

The G.U.N Commander at this point was very disgusted inside, but in order to save his hide, he replied softly with a nod, "loud and clear Mr. President."

"Good." The President then walked out and said before leaving the room, "Anyway, keep an eye on my phone in the meantime and let me know when it's done. I've got to make a quick call to the wife now."

"Understood, sir."

And with that, the President left the room.

Once he was gone, Commander Towers soon displayed a look on anger on his face and thought, _just my luck! The President did indeed side with them over me._

He then thought a few seconds later, _it's not that I want to blast them inside of Eggman's base, but I don't see what option I have left since I know that mad man could wipe us out at any second now if I don't do something to save us all._

Meanwhile, Tails during this time too heard the sirens.

He had been working near the back of the damaged jet engine when they went off, making him look up a bit startled.

He knew it could only mean one thing.

_Kitty and Sonic must have been broken through and Eggman's trying all he can to stop them from escaping. That must mean she's ok then._

Moments later, he thought to himself, _But, if she's ok, why couldn't I reach her before? It doesn't make any sense._

Nevertheless, he decided to ask her about it later, especially since the task of fixing his X-Tornado had a higher priority at the moment.

Tails then looked at his jet and added, _I sure wish these repairs weren't taking so long to complete._

Deep down inside, he seriously regretted being careless from before when he tried to blast down the door.

Nonetheless, he thought a third time with a firm expression on his face; _I've got to get these repairs done ASAP. No telling what Eggman has in store for them._

Back inside the base, Kitty and Sonic ran as fast down the stair they could in order to build a big enough of a cushion so Metal Sonic would lose track of them.

Kitty during this time had decided to carry Cream in her arms the whole way down, as the feline agent knew she wasn't fast enough to keep up with them.

Eggman meanwhile finally gave up trying to hit the button to lockdown the base, realizing there was a serious electrical problem to it. So, he got out his tool kit and decided to repair the control panel on the spot.

_I better fix this thing right away or these meddlesome furballs will escape the building! And I cannot allow that to happen!_

While he worked on it, he kept an eye on how his robot, Metal Sonic, was doing against Emerl.

Surprisingly, Eggman discovered that Emerl, even in his heavily damage state, fought valiantly against his secret weapon, using its learned abilities to fend off Metal Sonic.

This went on for over a minute, soon making the mad doctor growl heavily in frustration.

"That meddlesome Emerl! I never would have thought he would become a double edged sword to me."

Finally, one minute and thirty five seconds into their battle, Metal Sonic was able to put it away.

When the gray robot attempted to use another of Kitty's martial arts kick on it, Metal Sonic countered it to perfection, tripping it up, where it then spin dash Emerl again and again.

After five consecutive spin dashes, Metal Sonic finished off Emerl for good, using Rouge's screw kick to graphically cut the gray robot in two after landing in it mid-section.

Emerl by this point no more fight in him, as he soon sparked fervently and then fizzled out.

Eggman, who happened to watch the finishing blow was more annoyed than satisfied "Pathetic robot. I should have known something like this would happen thanks to me being stupid enough to trust Rouge."

With Emerl now officially out of the picture, Metal Sonic soon blasted off, again targeting Sonic and his friends.

By this time, Kitty and Sonic were only two floors from reaching the room where they fought the E-18.

Unfortunately though, both of them soon were becoming very fatigued by all the constant running.

Halfway down the next staircase, Sonic said after coming to a stop, "Let's stop and catch our breath for a sec."

Kitty was surprised that he was the first to suggest this, as she too was wanting to a breather herself.

As they both began to take deep breaths, Kitty commented, "I really hate having to stop now. Who knows how long Emerl can hold that robot up?"

"I'm sure he'll be able to hold that metal faker of mine enough for us to flee." Sonic replied, taking another deep breath. He then added with a bit of hesitation on his face, "I hope…"

Cream, who was now on the ground, said to them to try and boost their morale, "Don't lose faith, everyone. I'm sure Emerl will do all he can to help us escape."

"I hope you're right about that." Kitty said, taking another deep breath herself. "I really do…"

Twenty five seconds later, the two of them finally got enough of a wind, where they soon began to run down the stairs once again.

Cream, like before, was again being carried by Kitty. This move of the feline agent's unfortunately was tiring her out faster due to carrying more weight.

Nevertheless, Kitty pressed forward with everything she had, as she wasn't about to give up.

As for Metal Sonic, it soon made up a lot of ground on them during that rest period, now less than three floors behind and closing fast.

With a bit of a second wind, Kitty and Sonic continued to run towards their destination.

It was now a race against the clock, as they not only had to get out of there before Eggman's robot caught up to them, but before Eggman could lock the place down as well to block their escape.

Now only one flight of stairs away from that room with the E-18, Kitty and Sonic soon went through the door and ran down that flight of stairs.

"We're almost halfway out." Sonic stated to the feline agent while running. "Keep the pace up."

"I'm trying to." Kitty replied, while gasping for air "Man, I never realized how exhausting it is to run down this many flights of stairs consecutively."

"I know, but we should hopefully be out of here without any more difficulties." The blue hedgehog told her.

Sonic sadly couldn't be more mistaken.

With less than a fourth of stairs to run down towards the next room, both of them heard a whirring sound from above.

"Oh no… please don't tell me…"

"Relax, Kitty." Sonic said. "We'll use the hole to jump out in the next room if necessary."

"Are you crazy?" Kitty shot back. "You know we can't do that with Cream here! She could get really hurt from a fall that high up."

Sonic sadly didn't think of this, making him groan with disgust. "Doh, man! Now what?"

Moments later, they finally reached the room, as they still saw the E-18 remains.

Sonic, not wanting to give up on his idea just yet, decided to peek out of the hole to see high they were.

Unfortunately, Kitty was right. They were still over twelve stories up.

Sonic then said after sighing with disgust, "Great. Now what do we do?"

Kitty soon heard the whirring of Metal Sonic getting louder from above, replying, "We'll worry about that later. Right now, we need to keep moving before that robot finds us."

"Right. Let's go."

However, they were soon halted in their tracks, as they were greeted by an unexpected ally, who now climbed inside the hole.

"Knuckles?"

"Hey guys." He greeted.

"What happened out there?" Kitty inquired. "How come you took so long to return?"

"Ah, that rotten Eggman threw a curveball in our paths." The red echidna explained, shaking his head. "He cut your hook shot rope and then trapped me inside the room near the open door of the base when I tried to get back to you."

"I should have suspected as much." Kitty replied, frowning.

"Wait a second, where's Amy?" Sonic asked, now speaking up. "How come she isn't with you?

Knuckles again shook his head, replying, "I don't know to be perfectly honest. Since she had no way to get back up here, she could still be on the island or back on the G.U.N ship for all I know."

"That's not good." Kitty commented. "Who knows what trouble she could get herself into now?"

"Well, there's no point in worrying about it." Sonic said. "All we can do now is get out of the base and hopefully give her a hand if she's still around."

"Right." Kitty replied. "Let's go."

The three of them soon began to head towards the stairs. However, the red echidna soon stopped after taking five steps, looking towards the door where they previously entered.

"What's wrong, Knuckles?" Kitty inquired with concern.

Knuckles though didn't answer her, as he thought with a frown while putting crossing his arms together; _something's coming toward us, and very quickly._

"C'mon, Rad Red." Sonic said. "Get a move on already!"

But again, Knuckles didn't move.

"What's your problem, man?" Sonic demanded after another brief pause. "Don't you realize we need to get out of this building as soon as possible?"

"Sonic, cool your jets." Kitty told him. "I'll handle this."

She then walked towards Knuckles, asking softly, "Why are you still standing there? Is something wrong?"

Knuckles didn't turn to look at her, but instead replied a bit gruffly a couple of seconds later, "Stand back, Kitty."

This response of his completely baffled the feline agent, but didn't respond to it at first.

Several seconds later, the whirring sounds were now becoming very loud indeed, making the blue hedgehog shout, "Would you two get a move already? We need to go, NOW!"

Kitty then tried to coax Knuckles to move by grabbing him by the left shoulder.

Knuckles however completely shocked her, as he abruptly pushed the feline agent back with his right fist, where she fell down on her rear.

Sonic was a bit horrified by this himself.

But before he could say one word in response, Knuckles charged towards the door, preparing to strike.

Not even three seconds after this, Metal Sonic finally came blasting in at full speed.

Knuckles though was ready for it, as he had winded his right fist by this time and then swung forward, hitting the blue spiky robot directly between the eyes.

His attack was so strong, it knocked Eggman's robot back onto the stairs, where it bounced onto them, tumbling halfway up them.

Kitty and Sonic looked on dumbfounded, as they couldn't believe how Knuckles figured out how close it was.

"Just as I thought." Knuckles commented with a frown. "It was one of Eggman's machines coming for us down the stairs."

Kitty by this time got back on her feet, saying with a speechless expression on her face, "Knuckles, you…"

"Quick, take Cream and run." Knuckles told her firmly. "I'll hold off this robot for you guys in the meantime."

"No, it's too risky." Kitty protested. "That thing's too strong for you to defeat by yourself."

Knuckles though gave her another firm facial expression, replying, "There's no time to debate about this. You need to get out of here before Eggman seals the doors."

"But what about you?"

Knuckles then gave her a confident expression, answering, "Trust me on this."

Kitty was about to protest further, when Sonic grabbed her by the right shoulder, saying, "Let's go, Kitty. We've got no time to lose"

Kitty thought of resisting him, but then saw Metal Sonic soon standing up on its feet again, shaking off the damaging effects of Knuckles' punch.

Realizing she had no choice now, Kitty quickly picked Cream up in her arms again, saying to the red echidna with a look of deep concern on her face before she took off, "Be careful, Knuckles."

Knuckles gave her a nod in response, as she and Sonic finally headed down the next flight of stairs.

Two seconds later however, Metal Sonic attempted to attack again. Knuckles though saw this and went to strike back, again charging towards it.

Kitty and Sonic meanwhile headed down the next flight of stairs, trying to use Knuckles' interference to their advantage.

As they ran down the stairs, Sonic commented, "I gotta give that echidna credit. He was pretty selfless to put his life on the line for our sakes."

"Yea, and that's what I'm really worried about…" Kitty replied, still having a look of deep concern on her face. "That robot of Eggman's could really hurt him."

Sonic soon saw this look on her face while they ran, making him say awkwardly, "Uh, I know this probably isn't a good time to bring this up, but I couldn't help but notice lately that you seem very partial to Rad Red."

Kitty almost did a double take, even blushing a bit inside, as Sonic added, "Just wondering, do you like that guy alot?"

Kitty then gave him a scolding look, replying, "Sonic, how can you even ask such a question? We're in the middle of trying to escape Eggman's base!"

"I know, I know, not a good time." Sonic said. "Still, you got me very curious inside."

Kitty though didn't answer him, as she continued to press on ahead.

Sonic at this point decided to drop it, as he realized it a moot point now.

Back up top, Knuckles and Metal Sonic continued to duel.

Metal Sonic then attempted to spin dash him once it entered the room. Knuckles though easily evaded it, jumping over its attack.

Moments later, Metal Sonic turned itself around after missing its target and tried again.

Knuckles again however evaded it, jumping into the air a second time. When it tried a third time with the same attack, Knuckles finally struck back, as he used his fists to slam Metal Sonic to the ground with a super punch.

His timing was right on target, as Metal Sonic was abruptly halted in its tracks on contact.

Metal Sonic though quickly got back on its feet and went all out on the red echidna, now using all of Kitty's martial arts moves to try and level him.

But again, Knuckles outwitted Eggman's robot, evading all of its attacks and then hitting it directly underneath its chin with a powerful uppercut once he found an opening.

Knuckles' attack sent Metal Sonic flying to the ground again, this time flat on its back.

Deciding to put an end to this battle, Knuckles went for the kill, as he charged towards the blue spiky robot, now attempting to hit it as he could with a shovel claw punch to its metal head.

That decision though would turn out to backfire, as Metal Sonic wasn't even close to being down for the count.

A split second before he could attack, Metal Sonic countered it to perfection, using Knuckles' own attack against him, sending the red echidna backwards to the ground, where he too was now flat on his fact

This move completely startled him, as he was surprised to see this robot learning his own signature attack this soon.

Moments later, Metal Sonic got back on his feet and now attempted to do the same to Knuckles as he tried previously to it.

Like Metal Sonic, Knuckles was able to keep from getting hit. But unlike it, Knuckles didn't have time to react to punch it in the face.

Instead, all he could do was backflip out of harm's way a split second before it attacked.

Once he landed on the ground, Knuckles commented with a firm expression on his face, "You're not bad, robot, but you're still not going to overpower me."

Metal Sonic instantly responded to his statement with none other than charging towards its prey. Knuckles soon did likewise, winding his right fist back, ready to strike.

While this was going on, the President waited in line for the phone, as he unfortunately had to wait now since several of the G.U.N soldiers were calling their families to them him know they were ok.

The President though didn't make an issue of it, as he realized his call could wait for a few minutes since he figured it wasn't a big deal.

Tails on the other hand, did make a big deal out of his call, as he soon tried to reach Kitty again after the repairs on the X-Tornado were now ¾ of the way complete.

"Kitty, this is Tails. Do you read me?"

This time, he got through, as Kitty answered, "I'm here. What's up, Tails?"

Tails breathed a deep sigh of relief after reaching her, saying, "There you are. I've been trying to get a hold of you for about three minutes now."

"Sorry about that." Kitty replied sheepishly. "I had an altercation a while ago I rather not talk about now."

"I see…" Tails then asked after a brief pause, "How's it going in there? Did you rescue Cream yet?"

"Yea, she's with us now." Kitty replied.

"That's good…" Tails stated, taking a deep breath. "So, what's going on in there anyway?"

"Eggman's activated the emergency lockdown program." Kitty explained. "Although, we have yet to run into any rooms barred by a locked door. Maybe it's not working correctly… I don't know…"

Tails now gave this a lot of thought, as Kitty added, "Listen, Tails, I don't have a lot of time to talk here. We're basically trying to get out of this base as fast as we can, especially with a berserk robot chasing us down."

Tails' facial expression quickly changed to one of deep concern, with him soon replying, "I had no idea. Is it really that bad in there?"

"I'm afraid so." Kitty replied. "Thankfully, Emerl and Knuckles have run interference for us in the meantime, but how much longer he can keep that metal monstrosity busy is anyone's guess."

"Wait a second… Emerl helped you guys? How is that possible?" Tails inquired.

"Long story." Kitty answered. "Let's just say someone was able to take control of it behind Eggman's back."

"Who was it?" Tails asked.

"I'll tell you later." Kitty told him. "I rather not say it now."

"Was it Rouge?" Tails inquired.

Kitty was now silent on the other line, as she didn't want to say.

"It was, wasn't it?"

Kitty soon let out a sigh, replying, "It's not an important issue now. What is important is that we need you to help us get off the island."

"Oh… right…"

"Is the X-Tornado ready to go?" Kitty asked.

"Well, not exactly…" Tails answered with hesitance.

"What does that mean?" Kitty inquired firmly.

"It means the jet might be repaired enough to fly now," Tails explained. "But for how long and whether or not it can handle the stress of full power if needed… I don't know."

Hearing this put Kitty in deep thought, as she soon told him, "It doesn't matter if the jet can handle full speed or not. Bottom line is, if it can handle a trip to the ship and back, then try and give it a go."

"Ok then, I'll give it my best shot." Tails replied.

"Good. See you soon then." Kitty said.

"Stay safe until I arrive, all right?" Tails told her.

Since the two tailed fox had said this last line with about the same amount of passion in his voice like before, Kitty eventually answered with hesitation and awkwardness, "Uh… sure thing. Talk to you later."

And with that, she cut off the transmission.

Sonic though, a split second later, asked, "Was that T2 calling?"

"Yea, just filling in him on what's going on." Kitty explained.

"Oh, ok." Sonic then asked, "Will he have the X-Tornado nearby when we exit the base?"

"He isn't sure yet, but he's going to try." Kitty replied.

"That doesn't sound too good…" Sonic commented with a frown.

"Let's not lose our composure here." Kitty told him. "Like you said, we still have a shot at completing the task we set out to do."

"Right. Let's keep making tracks." Sonic stated with vigor.

Back on the ship, Tails soon gave the X-Tornado's right jet engine another thorough inspection to see if it was capable of flying.

After looking it over for about thirty seconds, he concluded it was fixed enough for a short run. So, he borrowed a lab top from one of the G.U.N technicians nearby and prepared to do a diagnosis in the air while flying.

The G.U.N technician however wasn't happy with this, saying to him with a frown, "Hey, fox boy, give me back my lab top!"

"I just need to use it for a sec." Tails explained. "I'll bring this right back when I'm done with it."

"Oh, no you won't." the technician replied. "Knowing your kind, you'll probably damage it or worse."

Commander Towers though then came onto the scene and declared firmly, "That's enough already."

All of the technicians then turned around sheepishly, as the Commander added, "Let him use the lab top. If it'll help him fix his jet, then so much the better."

"But he might break it." The technician argued. "Or worse, get his filthy fox fur in the keys."

The G.U.N Commander quickly turned on him after he had said that, replying with anger, "I am not going to stand for your selfishness any longer! We are in this together, and I suggest you start acting like it if you know what's good for you. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir…" the technician answered, looking at the ground sheepishly.

Commander Towers then looked at Tails and nodded his head, telling him, "Go ahead, young fox. Run that diagnostic on the X-Tornado, but make sure you bring that lab top right back when you're done with it, ok?"

"Will do, sir." Tails replied, saluting him.

With the Commander backing him up, Tails did just that, as he started up the jet and took off, where he soon hooked up the lab top to the X-Tornado and did a full analysis on it.

After he was high in the air, the Commander walked away from the technicians, where he soon bumped into the President.

"Ah, there you are, sir." Commander Towers said. "Did you make the call yet?"

"No, not yet." The President replied. "All the phones are currently busy."

"Then tell them to get off the phone." The G.U.N Commander replied firmly. "After all, you are the President, are you not? Their calls can wait."

"True, but I don't think it's absolutely vital that I make that call now." The President explained. "I mean, they were just pictures."

"But they were sent during your capture." The G.U.N Commander argued. "Don't you find this situation a little bit suspicious?"

The President soon took a deep sigh and answered, "Well, I will admit that I do find this whole situation very odd and even kind of strange."

"Sir, we at least need to know if those photos are legit." The Commander told him. "If nothing else, for peace of mind at least."

"You're right, Commander." The President replied. "I'll use my personal cell phone to make the call. I'm sure it's charged up by now anyway."

As they walked towards the inner hull, the Commander commented, "You know, you probably could have used it when you first attempted to make the call."

"Yea, true…" The President stated. "But since my phone is only a quarter of the way charged, I thought the phones on the ship would do."

Meanwhile, in the top floor of Eggman's base, Eggman soon found the problem which caused his emergency system to malfunction.

"Ah ha! Just as I thought… a couple of the main wires connecting to the button were broken off during my tirade. That was rather stupid on my part now that I think about it."

Eggman then went to find some replacement wires nearby to install, when he soon saw the X-Tornado flying near his base from one of images of his security cameras.

"What the… How did he… Impossible!" Eggman now looked in complete shock, as he couldn't believe Tails had his jet back in the sky this quickly.

The mad doctor then growled, muttering, "I don't how he did it, but I'm going to blast that wretched furball out of the sky this time if it's the last thing I do!"

However, since he had more pressing issues at hand, he decided to wait on that for a bit

"I better make sure that meddling hedgehog and feline are sealed up tightly first since that fox brat won't have any way or reaching them without risking injury to his life Heh heh…"

Seconds later, he received an update from one of his monitors, making him display a huge grin on his face. "Perfect… the President's phone is now ready to cripple G.U.N and its navy ships." Eggman commented. "I knew that stupid leader would be too sentimental of his precious phone to give it up."

As for Tails, he soon received a full analysis of the X-Tornado's current condition from the borrowed lab top. Thankfully for him, the numbers he saw were very encouraging.

"All right, it looks like the jet is still in pretty good condition." The two tailed fox commented with a slight smile.

However, as he feared earlier, there was still one major issue with it. The right engine of the jet could unfortunately handle half speed at best.

"Ah, I was afraid of this." He stated with a sigh. "Oh well… at least I know now I can rescue Kitty and my friends."

He then looked towards the island and asked, "Although, how do I get in there with some of Eggman's missile launchers still operational?"

With his jet not at a 100%, Tails realized he might need some back up in order to get through cleanly.

While this was going on, the battle between Amy and Eggman's assistants was nearing its completion.

As Decoe had thought, Amy was not nearly as strong without her Piko Hammer. Since she currently was fighting without it, Decoe and Becoe, in spite of the fact of not being robots built for combat, soon overwhelmed the pink hedgehog and pinned her onto the ground in less than two minutes.

Once she was subdued by both of them, Decoe declared to her, "Yea, that'll teach you to mess with us."

"Well, what do you know?" Becoe commented in disbelief. "We did it. In fact, it was very easy."

"Yea, a lil too easy though…" Decoe added.

Becoe looked at his brother perplexed, soon asking, "You really think she lost to us on purpose?"

Decoe put a hand under his chin to think, replying, "I don't know… something about this victory just doesn't feel right to me."

Amy though played it up, saying with a whine, "Ok, you bots defeated me. Go ahead and take me to Dr. Eggman as part of our deal."

"Well, you certainly don't seem too upset about it." Decoe commented with suspicion.

"What's the point in complaining?" Amy countered. "A deal's a deal, right?"

Decoe again gave this matter a lot of thought, as Becoe said, "Look, we're wasting time. Let's take her to Dr. Eggman already."

Finally, the yellow robot conceded, replying, "Very well… Let's tie her up though before moving her inside the secret entrance."

And tied her up they did, as they found a very long and narrow tree branch, tying her hands and ankles tribal style and moved towards the secret panel.

Once they arrived, Decoe called Dr. Eggman on his control panel.

Eggman at first didn't answer due to being busy, but did eventually, replying gruffly, "What is it?"

"Dr. Eggman, you'll be pleased to know we have captured the hedgehog known as Amy Rose."

"Is that a fact?" Eggman looked on deeply suspicious and demanded, "And how do I know for certain you have her completely tied down?"

"See for yourself, sir." Decoe replied.

Eggman did just that, as he also saw Amy's hands and ankles tied between the long and narrow branch.

He then put his hand under his chin to think this over, soon commenting, "Well, I guess you bozos didn't too bad of a job after all."

"So, will you let us in now?" Becoe inquired.

"And why should I do that?" Eggman demanded.

"You can use this whiny brat as leverage, sir," Decoe explained, "Which should in turn put the hedgehog and the G.U.N agent in a bind."

"Hmmm… good point." Eggman then said after another pause, "Very well, I'll let you in."

Seconds later, a secret door within the base wall opened up, as Decoe and Becoe quickly carried her inside.

Amy during this time looked on with a mischievous grin on her face.

Once it shut behind them, Eggman said to his two assistant who were now in the basement, "Now then, I want you place the branch you used to tie her up on a stand."

Decoe and Becoe quickly complied with his orders, with Becoe soon asking afterwards, "Ok, now what?"

"Now… I want you to grab that brat's hammer tightly in your hand, and use it against her quite violently." Eggman answered with a devious grin. "If you catch my drift…"

Amy looked on a bit concerned, as Decoe replied, "No problem, sir. We'll smack her up good with that Piko Hammer of hers."

"Just make sure you don't kill her." Eggman instructed. "I want Sonic to see his precious fan girl badly beaten up in order to get my point across."

"You can count on us, Doctor." Becoe said confidently.

Amy by this point was starting to wonder if her plan was about to seriously backfire.

Decoe meanwhile grabbed Amy's Piko Hammer and soon walked over to her, commenting, "Well, rodent, you heard the Doctor. It's time for you to receive a dose of your own painful medicine."

Amy though resolved to keep her composure and try and find a way out of this.

Since the branch Amy was tied to was laying on top of a large workbench table with her hanging underneath it, she only saw one way of escape.

_Ok, this is going to be very tough to pull off, but if I can do it, I'll be able to make my escape._

Amy then took a deep breath and prepared to deal with the blows she knew she would have to deal with in order to pull off this very risky plan.

Moments later, Decoe wound up and took the first swing, aiming for her right side, hitting the pink hedgehog directly in that area

Amy instantly cringed in pain after getting struck, as the yellow robot's swing was much stronger than she thought possible, especially since her right side was already wounded from before.

"How do you like that, pink brat?" Decoe taunted. "Not so tough now, are you?"

Decoe then swung and hit her hard on the left side, again making her wince deeply while letting out a moderate groan.

"Nice swinging there, bro." Becoe commented with glee. "Now let me have a shot at it."

Decoe gladly handed his bro the hammer, as he took a couple of swings himself, hitting Amy in the gut, both legs, even one across the right cheek, making it bleed a bit.

This all happened in a span of ten seconds.

With every blow, Amy let out louder moan in pain, as even Becoe's swings were very strong as well. Even tears began to form in her eyes due to all the hits.

"Look at that, Decoe." Becoe commented with glee. "I think she's starting to cry inside."

Decoe even chuckled at the sight of this, saying, "Well, if she can't handle the pain now, how is she going to when we really turn it up?"

"Well, there's only way to find out, right bro?" Becoe stated with an evil look in his eye.

Amy at this point realized it was now or never.

_I can't bear to take any more of these hits. _She thought firmly._ It's time for me to unleash my plan or I'm done for._

Moments later, while Decoe took the hammer to swing again, Amy soon began to swing herself in the ropes to try and fling herself out of harm's way.

Decoe and Becoe soon saw this, making them both chuckle.

"What is she doing now?" Decoe asked. "Does she actually think she can escape from those ropes?"

"She must be pretty desperate to do that with her tied down and all." Becoe added.

"Never mind that." Decoe replied. "Let's just smack her up some more."

However, that wouldn't happen.

Amy by this time had given herself enough velocity by swinging back and forth, now waiting for the yellow robot to wind up.

Once Decoe did that, Amy finally swung herself towards the left as hard as she could.

A split second later, Decoe went to swing, this time aiming for her back.

However, he would miss, as Amy swung herself hard enough that she sailed out of harm's way, where she then landed hard on top of the table.

"What the…"

Amy immediately stood up after this and then went to retaliate, where she then used the stick to attack.

Since they had used a thick stick to carry her in, Amy easily hit them both hard with it, knocking both of them to ground flat on her back.

Amy then snapped it in two with her right knee, using all her strength to pull this off.

Once she was free, Decoe and Becoe soon realized they were in very big trouble now.

Instantly, Amy charged towards them and took back her Hammer from Decoe before he could get up, where she would now give them a dose of it yet again.

Both of Eggman's assistants looked on deeply frightened, especially after seeing Amy look at them with a fierce glare.

"It's payback time, bots!" Amy declared, walking towards them while lightly tapping the mallet against her left hand back and forth.

In a flash, Decoe and Becoe tried to make a run for it, but it would all be in vain.

Amy soon caught up to them within seconds and then hammered these two robots again and again, heavily denting their metal bodies all over.

Even when they were all dented up, Amy still wouldn't relent, as she said with anger, "And this is for trying to kill me earlier with your big E-series robot!"

Amy then went for the kill, as she quickly smashed their metal chests into their inner components with fury again and again. This in turn put them almost completely out of commission, as both robots soon began to spark heavily from the excessive damage done by the pink hedgehog.

Seeing them down and out, Amy looked on with deep satisfaction. "That takes care of those morons. Now to find Sonic and show him what I can really do."

She then ran up the stairs, saying with the utmost determination in her voice, "Ready or not, Eggman. Here I come!"

Eggman unfortunately witnessed his two assistants getting the crap beat out of them, making him look on with disgust. "Why am I not surprised? Even when she was tied down, they still couldn't deliver!"

Eggman though composed himself eventually, stating, "Never mind. Once I get the lockdown program fixed, I'll trap her within the base and then finish that annoying fan girl myself!"

While this was going on, the President and the G.U.N Commander arrived within the room again where his phone was again, as the President tried to use his phone to call the wife.

This time, he got through, quickly dialing his personal home number.

However, while he did this, the G.U.N Commander soon received a report from one of the crew members inside.

"Sir, I have urgent news."

"What is it?" he inquired.

"When we tried to get in contact with the operators near the missile silos about launching our attack, none of them responded."

"WHAT?" Commander Towers looked at him dumbfounded, asking, "Are you serious?"

"Yes, Commander. In fact, there's another situation that's also come to our attention."

The G.U.N Commander groaned, saying, "Now what?"

"It appears that one of our…"

The crew member couldn't finish his sentence, as they heard some commotion overhead.

"What's that sound?" Commander Towers inquired with deep concern.

"That's what I'm trying to tell you! One of our…"

But again, he couldn't finish, as this time he was drowned out by a missile that screamed overhead.

Once it passed by, and the sound of it began to fade, Commander Towers asked with horror, "Was that a missile that just flew by?"

"Yes, sir. That's the report I was trying to tell you! One of our missiles from the silos outside of Central City was fired not even five minutes ago!"

"You gotta be kidding me!" Commander Towers stated, completely perplexed. "How is that…"

Just then, it hit him. He quickly then turned to the Central City leader, shouting "Mr. President!"

The President looked over at him, a bit annoyed by his outburst, asking, "What is it?"

"I figured out what Eggman did to your phone! He used it to activate our missile program and…"

The G.U.N Commander however couldn't finish that statement, as within seconds, a huge EMP blast resulted from the network computers exploding.

Soon, even other network computers from other navy G.U.N exploded as well, sending a universal EMP blast to the entire fleet.

Commander Towers during this time tackled the President to the ground, fearing it was a lethal electrical wave that could kill them all.

However, it soon became apparent to them all that this was not an attack directed at their bodies.

"What just happened?" The President asked after standing up, now deeply horrified inside.

"I don't know…" The G.U.N Commander replied.

Moments later though, it soon became obvious what did happen.

The President looked at his phone and soon saw it was dead as a doornail.

"Oh no… My phone… it won't even turn on now."

Commander Towers then looked around and saw every network computer in the room blown to bits. "I don't believe this. Was that an attack on our…?"

Another G.U.N solider soon came in and said, "Sir, the ship's power is off. In fact, nothing electrical onboard appears to be working at all."

At that moment, it hit him. "It was an EMP blast…"

Commander Towers then clinched his fist tightly while gritting his teeth, stating, "He used the President's phone against us, disguising his program as family pictures."

Instantly, he slammed his right fist onto a nearby table nearby, shouting with rage, "That blasted Eggman! He completely shut down our system! Now we're powerless to fight back!"

"Get a hold of yourself." The President told him. "It's not over yet."

"Sir, we can't launch an attack now." Commander Towers countered. "We're basically sitting ducks at this point! Eggman can now wipe us out without any resistance at all!"

"We still have help on the inside." The President reiterated.

"What could those Mobian animals possibly do to stop Eggman from blasting us all to smithereens?" The G.U.N Commander asked sharply. "They won't be able to stop him from firing at us!"

"They've succeeded so far, so I'm willing to give them to benefit of the doubt." The President told him. "And besides, we have the X-Tornado as well in our possession as well."

"That jet's right engine though was heavily damaged." Commander Towers explained. "It probably can't even fly fast enough to evade missile fire."

"Give it a chance before judging it." The President said. "Who knows? Maybe it can fend off the missile attacks for us in the meantime."

At this point, the G.U.N Commander reluctantly complied, though he was very, very skeptical.

Meanwhile, in the air, Tails, who happened to flying back, soon saw the huge EMP blast hit the G.U.N navy ships, making him gasp in horror.

"That… was an EMP blast." He commented dumbfounded. "How in the world did Eggman pull that off?"

Thankfully for him, the X-Tornado was too far away to be hit by any of the waves. Nevertheless, Tails realized Eggman now held the aces, as G.U.N was powerless to fight back.

Deciding to get an update, Tails flew the X-Tornado back the main navy ship, where the G.U.N Commander and President waited for his return.

While this was going on, Eggman now looked on completely euphoric, as he soon began to laugh heartily, "Oh, this is just too sweet to digest. My plan to cripple G.U.N computer network actually went through as planned. And now that they're powerless to fight back, I think I'll send a few missiles at them to bring those G.U.N morons to their knees. Heh heh heh!

Tails soon landed on the ship and opened up the canopy. After he did so, the President asked him, "How's your jet running?"

"Well, not as well as I had hoped," Tails explained. "But it's seems operational at least."

He then asked, "What happened exactly?"

"Ah, that vile mad scientist…!" Commander Towers exclaimed with anger. "He used the President's phone against him and had it send out a massive EMP wave."

Tails quickly gasped in horror, asking, "Is it really that bad?"

"I'm afraid so." The President answered somberly. "As of this moment, none of our main weapons even work now."

"It's a good thing you tested your X-Tornado when you did." Commander Towers told him. "We would have no chance to fight back had it been here during that attack."

Tails was soon in deep thought, asking, "Well, is there any way to send an attack towards Eggman's base?"

"As of this moment, no." The G.U.N Commander replied. "Without a running network, we can't even send a missile to Eggman's base remotely."

"Wait just a minute…" The President stated, putting a hand under his chin. "I think there might be a way after all."

"What do you mean?" Tails asked with curiosity.

"If I recalled correctly, the G.U.N network does have a back door IP server that can be accessed with a security password."

"But Mr. President…" Commander Towers argued. "That hasn't been used in over a year since our main network has been very reliable."

"It's worth a shot at least." The President reiterated.

"But how can we access it without a computer?" Commander Towers argued again. "All of our computers on this ship are shut down."

"Wait, you can use this one." Tails replied, showing them the lab top he brought on board. "It's still working."

Everyone nearby soon looked on with hope, with the President commenting while smiling, "Well done, young fox. You may have indeed…"

The President was then interrupted, as they heard missiles being fired from Eggman's base.

The G.U.N troops soon gasped in horror, as they saw over three of them heading their way.

Tails though said with confidence, "Don't worry, everyone, I'll shoot down those missiles for you."

And with that statement, he closed the canopy and then fired up the X-Tornado, soon blasting off towards the missiles to shoot them down.

Three minutes earlier, Knuckles and Metal Sonic's fight in the base was sadly becoming one sided the longer it went on. In spite of the red echidna's best efforts, Metal Sonic soon overpowered him, as it used nearly every move it had previously learned to its advantage.

Metal Sonic quickly pounded him hard with fury, using his own punches, Kitty's martial arts kicks; Sonic's spin dashes, even trying to crush him with Rouge's screw kick.

Fortunately for him though, Knuckles was at least able to evade the devastating screw kick after being slammed to the ground by a spin dash, as he dived out of the way a split second earlier.

Ironically, the spot Metal Sonic hit with its learned screw kick was directly on the main internal compartment of the E-18, cutting a big hole in its metal chest.

Knuckles meanwhile soon stood up, in spite of the fact he was starting to feel fatigued, declaring while holding his fists us in a fighting pose, "You're something else, robot, but you're in no way going to beat me if I have anything to say about it."

Knuckles then charged towards Metal Sonic, now more determined than ever to crush it with his super punch.

Unfortunately however, Metal Sonic was again one step ahead of the red echidna. The second Knuckles attempted to swing his fist at him, the blue spiky robot ducked underneath it, where it then tripped him up by using another of Kitty's martial arts moves.

Once Knuckles was flat on his blast, Metal Sonic attempted another spin dash to try and cut him in two.

Knuckles though evaded this attack, as he quickly got back on his feet after jumping backwards to dodge it, where he then went all out, swinging his fists at Metal Sonic again and again.

Since Knuckles was swinging his fists at him as fast as he could, Metal Sonic could only bob and weave at the moment to avoid getting hit.

Eventually however, Knuckles swings began to slow down after a while due to the fatigue catching up with him. As soon as that happened, Metal Sonic instantly pounced.

Countering to perfection, the blue spiky robot ducked underneath a now slower swing, where it then delivered a well-executed uppercut the red echidna, none other than the one Knuckles' used which was currently stored in its data bank.

Now seriously stunned and staggering backwards, Metal Sonic attacked with completely fury, as it blasted Knuckles again and again with devastating martial arts kicks.

Within seconds, Knuckles was knocked backwards to the point he was pinned behind a wall.

With nowhere to go, the red echidna took blow after blow after blow. Not even ten seconds into this, Knuckles eventually collapsed onto to the floor in a heap, as he could not stand up any longer due to the blistering beating he was taking.

Now down for the count, Metal Sonic soon hovered above to finish him off, attempting to use Rouge's screw kick for a second time.

But again, he would be interrupted, but by something he never saw coming.

A split second before it could execute this attack, a huge spray of bullets hitting Metal Sonic from behind, now halting him in his tracks.

Metal Sonic soon turned around and saw who the culprit was.

It was none other than E-102 Gamma.

"Annihilate Eggman's robot." It declared in a monotone computer voice.

As it turned out, Gamma had decided to follow Amy's advice and rebel against Eggman.

Eggman meanwhile soon saw this over his cameras, making the mad doctor looked on dumbfounded, as well as enraged. "So… that traitorous Gamma has finally returned? Well, I've been meaning to turn that despicable robot into scrap metal anyway!"

Eggman then ordered Metal Sonic to wipe out the E-102, temporarily forgetting that his top secret robot no longer obeyed his orders.

Nonetheless, Metal Sonic took on Gamma anyway, as it now wanted to take out this robot also for its interference.

Moments later, Metal Sonic charged toward Gamma to attack.

Gamma meanwhile fired bullets from his machine gun arm cannon at Metal Sonic's midsection, trying to cut it down with a spray of ammunition.

Strangely, Gamma's plan worked out better than expected, as the bullets that hit it in the metal chest soon interfered with its huge electrical output, causing the blue spiky robot to slow down a bit.

In fact, the bullets slowed it down enough that Gamma was able to use its rocket boosters to evade Metal Sonic's oncoming attack, which was none other than Knuckles' super punch.

Gamma then continued this attack pattern, where it continued to battle with Metal Sonic without taking any damage.

This soon went on for thirty seconds, with the exact same results each time.

Knuckles meanwhile finally came to during this battle, where he soon stood up, and saw what was going on.

Seeing who was now battling Metal Sonic deeply baffled the red echidna. However, that wouldn't be the main thing that got his attention.

Knuckles soon glanced over to the remains of the E-18, where he soon saw something glowing from within the hole Metal Sonic made in it.

He then walked over to the hole and put his right hand inside; trying to dig out what was causing this bright light inside the huge E-series robot.

Seconds later, he pulled out the culprit, none other than a very familiar gem.

_I was right. That glow was being caused by a Chaos Emerald. That must be how Eggman powered this huge machine in the first place._

Unfortunately for the red echidna, Metal Sonic soon glanced over and saw the Emerald as well, making the blue spiky robot attempt to attack him.

But again, Metal Sonic would be hindered, as Gamma took full advantage of the blue spiky robot for taking its eyes off the E-102, spraying another few rounds of gunfire at Eggman's secret weapon.

Knuckles during this time tried to duck underneath Metal Sonic while running, including the gunfire, but was sadly unsuccessful.

Halfway into this, Knuckles' had the Chaos Emerald literally shot out of his right hand. While he wasn't hit by any of the bullets, they unfortunately sent the glowing gem tumbling to the ground out of reach.

_Ah, great… just my luck._ Knuckles thought with a frown.

To make matters worse, Metal Sonic finally countered Gamma's bullets by attempting to hit it with Sonic's spin dash.

Gamma soon saw this attack and realized it had to take evasive measures, as its bullets were useless against the blue spiky robot while it spun into a ball.

Gamma then stopped firing and prepared to use its rocket boosters to evade.

Thankfully though, Gamma wouldn't have to this time.

Once it stopped firing, Knuckles decided to extract a little revenge on Eggman's secret weapon.

Using solid timing, the red echidna winded his fist back and then swung at the precise moment the exact time it came spinning by.

Knuckles' super punch was right on target, as he sent Metal Sonic flying out the room through the hole he had made earlier, where it soon disappeared out of sight.

Knuckles then took a deep breath, commenting, "Well, so much for that stupid robot."

Moments later, the red echidna went to find the Chaos Emerald he lost, but soon saw Gamma by now had it in his possession.

Knuckles was about to protest, when Gamma asked him with that same monotone voice, "Are you an ally of Amy Rose, the pink hedgehog?"

"Yes I am." Knuckles replied. "Why do you ask?"

"In that case, I, Gamma, am your ally as well." Gamma told him.

"What?" Knuckles was deeply perplexed by this, soon asking, "What are you anyway, and why did you choose to help me against Eggman?"

"The hedgehog, known as Amy Rose, told me I could choose to disobey Eggman if I wanted." Gamma explained. At first, I was very conflicted to follow such a request since Eggman had built me. However, I soon realized that Eggman only wanted to use me for evil purposes, thus I decided I cannot obey such a vile mad scientist any longer and have chosen to help her and you as well."

"Really? Well, that's cool." Knuckles commented awkwardly. "I guess…"

After a brief period of silence, Knuckles told him, "Look, Gamma, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm going to need that…"

Knuckles however couldn't finish his sentence, as Gamma told him sharply, "Get down…"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Knuckles then saw Gamma point the gun at him, making the red echidna look at it deeply baffled.

"You must get down so I don't hit you." Gamma told him again.

Knuckles quickly his head around, and there he saw Metal Sonic hovering into the room again from behind, making him look on dumbfounded.

_Good grief, that robot sure got back up here fast._

A split second later, Metal Sonic went to attack, again attempting another spin dash.

At the exact same time, Gamma prepared to fire his machine gun.

Knuckles finally got the gist of what this E-series robot was going to, as he ducked out of harm's way in the nick of time.

After he was out of range, Gamma fired his machine gun at Metal Sonic.

This time however, Gamma's bullets fired a lot faster, as well with a ton more velocity. As it turned out, the Chaos Emerald greatly increased the power of his machine gun. Even in ball form, Metal Sonic could not repel past this onslaught, as it soon was knocked backwards little by little.

Knuckles soon watched this in amazement, as he heard Gamma tell him loudly, "Hurry, help Amy Rose defeat Eggman. I, Gamma, shall take care of this robot of his in the meantime."

Knuckles at first resisted this idea, as he wanted to bring the Chaos Emerald with him. However, he eventually decided that helping Kitty and Sonic, as well as Amy was the more important thing at the moment.

So, he soon nodded his head and ran off, leaving Gamma to fight Eggman's robot.

Back outside, Round 2 of the duel between Eggman and Tails soon commenced.

By this time, Tails had his jet up to full speed, as he soon shot down the missiles attacks headed for the main G.U.N navy ships.

Eggman though was just warming up, saying while rubbing his hands together with glee, "All right, fox brat, let's just see how good of a jet pilot you really are."

Moments later, Eggman fired missile after missiles at the X-Tornado, now more determined than ever to shoot it down.

As Tails had feared, his X-Tornado was not as fast or agile as before due to the right jet engine at only half speed.

Nonetheless, Tails gave it his all.

When any missile attack came close to hitting him, the two tailed fox veered his jet away from harm, moving up, down, left, right, even nose diving and pulling back on the control stick completely at times.

After over a dozen and a half missiles had failed to come even close to hitting the X-Tornado, Eggman soon furrowed his brow with disgust, as he decided to change strategies.

"So, he is as good as advertised. Well, let's see how good he can be when he has to look out for the safety of others instead of his own. Heh heh!"

And with that statement, Eggman immediately changed targets. He instead decided to shoot his missiles at the oncoming G.U.N ships out in the water.

Once they fired, Tails again gripped the wheel tightly, preparing to evade.

However, as soon as they came close to him, Tails couldn't help but notice that the missiles aimed towards the X-Tornado were much lower in altitude this time.

_What in the world…? Since when is Eggman a lousy shot all of all sudden? Why are those missiles aimed so…_

Instantly, it hit him. _He's aiming for the G.U.N navy ships!_

Tails then turned around his X-Tornado as fast as he could, now targeting the missiles aimed at G.U.N with his laser cannons.

Eggman soon chuckled to himself, commenting, "Heh, I knew that goody two shoes fox would try and save those pathetic G.U.N troops."

To the mad doctor's surprise, Tails was able to get close enough and shoot down the missiles, as they could get no closer than twenty five feet towards their designated target.

Eggman then instantly pounced. After Tails turned the X-Tornado around, he quickly aimed numerous missiles at the rear of the jet, hoping this time it would finally take out Tails' aircraft.

But again, Tails showed how resilient he really was.

Once the first wave of missiles attacks were taken care of, Tails took a quick glance from behind while turning around, where he then saw the next round coming for him.

Again, being an experienced fighter pilot, Tails veered his jet out of his harm's way, as the missiles screamed past him.

Thankfully for G.U.N, Eggman's aim had been too high when shooting at Tails and instead sailed overhead the G.U.N ships

However, the next batch of missiles Eggman fired was now aimed low enough to hit the G.U.N ships if Tails tried to evade again.

Tails though was able to see what Eggman was trying to do, making him clinch his teeth tightly, thinking, _nice try, Eggman, but this is one fox you won't be outwitting so easily._

Tails was true to his word, as he locked onto each missile aimed for him and the G.U.N ships with his onboard system, vaporing every missile fired, one by one.

Eggman by this point was both flabbergasted and enraged.

"That blasted fox brat!" he shouted, jumping up and down angrily. "I'll show him he can't beat me so easily!"

However, Eggman soon discovered he had used up most of his missiles in the launchers and would require ten to twenty seconds to reload more of them from his underground storage area.

Tails meanwhile however decided to stick it to Eggman, quite literally.

"Since that Eggman has dealt G.U.N a big blow, I think I'll give him one of my own." He stated with vigor.

Tails then flew closer to Eggman's island, now aiming for his base.

Using the locked on target system again, Tails locked onto it structure and instantly opened fire.

At about the same time, Eggman finally had some of his launchers reloaded and ready to go.

"Ok, now to find that meddlesome furball and…"

Eggman however couldn't finish that sentence, as his control room instantly shook back and forth.

"What in the world… What was that?"

Eggman then looked on in horror, as he soon saw a horrifying sight.

"What the… My cameras…!"

As it turned out, nearly all of the video cameras in his control room shut off abruptly thanks to Tails' aerial assault on his building.

"I don't believe this…!" he shouted seething. "He took out most of my video surveillance!"

Before Eggman knew it, he only 20% of his cameras left, and there were of little use to him now.

Eggman at this point could barely control his emotions. He knew that video footage was a vital part of keeping tabs on his outside. And unfortunately for him, the two tailed fox still wasn't done.

Tails then continued to fly around his base again and again, hitting it with as many laser blasts as he could in rapid succession, determined to cause major havoc.

During this time, Eggman was helpless to do anything to stop Tails, as his building began to shake even more violently with every laser shot the two tailed fox fired. All he could sadly was steer clear away of any metal objects that weren't bolted down for his own protection.

Within a minute, Tails had inflicted major damage to almost the entire structure. Even the floodlights near the top of the roof were blasted to bits as a result of this attack.

Tails soon looked on with elation after this, as he stated with confidence, "That ought to slow Eggman down for a while if nothing else."

He then got on the radio and called Kitty's wireless radio to make sure she and her team wasn't affected by his attack.

Thankfully for him, they weren't, as he heard her say after she picked up, "Kitty here, go ahead, Tails."

"I've got good news and bad news on this end." Tails told her.

"What is it?" Kitty asked curiously.

"First the good news… I just shot up Eggman's base good with the X-Tornado's laser cannons."

"Really? Was that recent shaking coming from you?"

"Yea. Anyway, I think I was able to wipe out a few more of his missile launchers in the process, maybe even took down a few hidden cameras too…"

"Excellent work, Tails" Kitty replied with elation in her voice. "You really have been a big help on this mission."

Tails again deeply blushed at her praise, replying sheepishly a few seconds later, "Aw, it was nothing really."

Moments later, he heard a clicking sound in the background, making him ask, "What was that?"

"Oh, I'm just loading my RPG-7 with a warhead at the moment. Since Metal Sonic is currently being slowed down by Knuckles, I decided to load my weapons to the max as a precaution in case he comes back."

"Oh, ok. Well, better safe than sorry I guess." Tails commented. He then added, "Anyway, I don't know for sure how much damage I did to Eggman's base, so I think its best you keep a cautious approach for the time being."

"That's fine with me." Kitty replied. "I was going to do that anyway since I know by now you don't ever underestimate Eggman."

"Ok then."

"That reminds me, Tails… What was the bad news you were going to tell me?"

"Oh yea… Well, Eggman unfortunately dealt a blow to G.U.N as well." Tails explained.

"What do you mean?" Kitty inquired with concern.

"He had the President's phone send out a massive EMP blast, resulting in a complete shutdown of all the G.U.N ships nearby?"

"What? Are you serious?"

"I'm afraid so, Kitty." Tails answered with a sigh. "Thankfully, I was testing the X-Tornado in the air at the time and it wasn't affected by this attack."

"Well, that's good to know." Kitty stated with a sigh of relief. She then commented with disgust, "I knew that phone was booby trapped. Why didn't the President listen to me?"

"I really don't know for sure…" Tails replied. "Anyway, how close are you to getting out of the base?"

"Less than four flights of stairs to go, I think…" Kitty told him with a lil hesitance in her voice. "I just hope Knuckles can get out with us unscathed. That robot of Eggman's is just unbelievably strong."

"I'm sure he'll be ok." Tails said, trying to calm her fears. "He's a very tough echidna after all."

"I know… Still, I can't help but feel very worried inside." Kitty stated with a heavy sigh.

"There's no point in worrying about it now." Tails told her. "The important thing to do now is help Cream out of there and then you guys can go back and give Knuckles a hand."

"Right… Anyway, keep me updated about what's going on with G.U.N and…"

Kitty couldn't finish her sentence, as the red echidna finally came running towards them, making the feline agent gasp.

"What's going on?" Tails asked with curiosity.

"Knuckles… he's… already caught up with us." Kitty stated dumbfounded.

"Really? Well, that was fast." Tails commented.

"What's going on?" Tails heard Knuckles say loudly in the background. "Why are you guys standing around here?"

Kitty then spoke up and said to the two tailed fox, "Anyway, I better go now. I need to find out from Knuckles what happened to Metal Sonic."

"In the meantime, help G.U.N out anyway you can." Kitty instructed. "They're going to need your help now more than us."

"Will do." Tails answered confidently. "See you later."

"You too." Kitty replied. "Bye."

After Kitty cut off the transmission, Tails soon flew his X-Tornado back to the navy G.U.N ship. With many of Eggman's cameras down, the mad doctor was unable to get a shot at the X-Tornado, as he couldn't see where to aim now.

While Tails flew back, he thought, _it's funny, but I could swear Kitty seemed really worried about Knuckles, like he really means a lot to…_

Tails quickly blew off that thought, thinking, _get a hold of yourself, Tails. Now's not the time to worry about something so trivial. You've got a job to do, and Kitty's counting on you. _

He then thought with firm resolve a few seconds later,_ I cannot let her down. There's too much at stake now._

Back inside, Kitty then asked Knuckles, "What happened? Why are you here now?"

"I think I should be asking you that." Knuckles replied with a frown. "There's no time to be standing around, especially since Metal Sonic is still operational."

"If he's still operational," Sonic countered. "Then why aren't you keeping him busy for us in the meantime?"

"Because… I had some unexpected help." Knuckles explained awkwardly.

"What does that mean?" Sonic demanded with a frown.

"It means somebody offered to keep that robot of Eggman's busy for me." Knuckles replied, crossing his arms together.

"Who would do that?" Kitty inquired with curiosity.

"I dunno… I never saw this robot before." Knuckles answered hesitantly.

"Robot?"

"Yea, Kitty. I think its name was… Gamma if I recalled correctly."

"GAMMA?" Kitty, along with Sonic and Cream all said this in unison.

"You can't be serious, Rad Red." Sonic stated with a frown. "You mean to tell me that killer robot is actually fighting Metal Sonic now?"

"Sonic, I'm not making this up." Knuckles shot back. "All I know is, I was in trouble, and that Gamma robot bailed me out before Metal Sonic could kill me. That's why I'm here now."

"Unbelievable…" Kitty commented. "Perhaps Amy was right after all when she mentioned that robot changed its mind."

"I don't see how." Sonic said, adding his two cents. "Once a killing machine, always a killing machine."

"We don't have time to sit around and discuss this now." Knuckles stated loudly with a frown. "We need to get out of here as soon as possible."

"You're right." Kitty replied. "There's no reason to stand around here any longer. She then said to the others, "Let's go, guys."

And with that, they all continued their run down the next flight of stairs.

As they ran, Knuckles asked Kitty, "So, have you heard anything from Amy yet?"

"Unfortunately, no." Kitty replied softly. "After she went with you to help Topaz and the President escape, she just disappeared. Weird…"

"Speaking of weird, I couldn't help but notice that Rouge was not with you guys after I returned. Where did she go?"

Kitty though didn't answer the red echidna, as she held her head a bit low in shame just thinking about it.

"Kitty?"

Kitty was about to tell him what had happened, but was soon abruptly interrupted, as she saw a metal door in front of them leading to the next flight of stairs quickly lower itself, blocking their path.

All of them then stopped in their tracks after it slammed shut, as they soon realized what just happened.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Sonic exclaimed with disgust. "We're this close to getting out and now the doors seal us in?"

"Eggman's lockdown system must have finally activated." Kitty stated with deep concern.

Knuckles then groaned loudly, shouting, "See, this is why you guys shouldn't have stopped. Now we're trapped inside his base!"

"It wouldn't have that much of a difference anyway." Sonic retorted. "We're still at least two to three floors away from getting out."

"We would have at least been closer!" Knuckles shot back. "Face it, Sonic, we're in deep trouble!"

"Guys, stop your bickering already!" Kitty told them sharply. "There's no point in blaming each other now. We're going to need to work together in order to try and break through those metal doors!"

While neither of them liked being scolded by the feline agent, they knew she was right.

"And just how are we going to bust through those doors?" Sonic inquired with a frown. "They're thick and made of metal."

"Maybe so," Kitty replied. "But if we combine our special attacks together, we may just be able to bust through."

Sonic and Knuckles at this moment looked on with deep reluctance, as Kitty added, "C'mon, guys, don't lose hope. It's not over yet."

Even though Kitty's speech wasn't all that inspiring, Sonic and Knuckles knew they had to work as a team in order to survive.

"Ok, let's get cracking!" Sonic stated firmly.

While this was going on, Eggman looked on with pure delight. After his failure with Tails, he finally had replaced the broken wires on his control panel and activated the button.

He then commented with a chuckle, "Well, one out of two isn't bad. I may not have been able to sink G.U.N's ships for now thanks to the annoying fox, but at least I trapped his meddlesome friends within my base!"

After a brief pause, he added, "Once Metal Sonic takes care of Gamma, they'll be sitting ducks! And once they're finished, I'll finally have my revenge over the rest of those who dare to oppose me!"

Back outside, a certain female bat was now a mile and half away from the base, flying to the nearest shore she could find without being spotted by G.U.N.

During the flight, Rouge's mind with ridden with guilt, as she was still feeling the effects of Topaz finding out about her little secret, resulting in their friendship completely evaporating.

As she flew, previous statements from Kitty, Topaz and Cream raced through her mind.

_And what makes this worse is the fact you deceived Topaz into thinking you were a good person! How could you do that to her?_

_I can't believe you, Rouge! You actually left Kitty to die?_

_I trusted you, Rouge. You said Kitty was just jealous when she brought those accusations to me, but she was right. You were a double agent this whole time. I can't believe you._

_Why would you want to hurt Miss Kitty, Rouge? She's done nothing to you to deserve such treatment._

Even now, those statements ate at her conscience, pondering to herself, _what was I thinking? Was my greed for jewels and desire for revenge so great that it completely blinded my judgment?_

Rouge knew deep down her decision to ally with Eggman on the side would be a very risky move. And sure it enough, it ended up backfiring.

Moments later, the female bat stopped in midair and began to hover as other thoughts from Kitty and Cream soon crowded her mind.

_Thank you. I'm touched that you cared enough to risk hurting herself in order to save me._

_If you stay and help us out, maybe that would convince Topaz to give you another chance_

Rouge then let out a big sigh, where she turned around and looked Eggman's base from a distance, thinking, _do I dare go in back there and try to redeem myself?_

Ironically, a big part of her did, especially since she still wanted to retaliate against the mad doctor for hurting Topaz.

The other part of her, on the other hand, did not.

_If I go back, more than likely I'll be prosecuted by G.U.N for my betrayal._

Fearing that possibility, she again tried to turn around and leave, that is until she remembered some words Topaz had said during her and Kitty's brief spat at G.U.N's headquarters.

_I think we should give Rouge a chance to prove us wrong._

_Kitty… Rouge is still my friend, even if you two are at odds with each other. Please give her a chance for my sake._

Rouge now was deeply conflicted inside, as she thought to herself, _Topaz stuck up for me the whole time when Kitty tried to expose me for being a double agent. She could have easily sided with that feline, especially since the evidence was pretty condemning even then._

_And yet… _she pondered after a pause._ She didn't. She stood by me the whole until I self-incriminated myself. _

She then said after thinking this over, "Topaz must have really cared about our friendship to do all of that."

Rouge again looked back at Eggman's base, saying, "Still, I doubt she'd ever take me back as her friend after all I've done."

In spite of these doubts however, Rouge just couldn't make herself fly away any longer. Something about Eggman's base kept gnawing at her, even now.

Five second laters, she let out a groan, telling herself, _you're going to have to a make a decision here, Rouge. Do you run or do you return and help them fight Eggman?_

For the time being unfortunately, she found herself unable to answer that question.


	17. The Dramatic Conclusion

As for Amy, she found herself in a better position than the others, but still in the same predicament. The pink hedgehog instead only had one door in front of her from being back where she and her comrades started their mission inside the base.

Like the others, she too was frustrated by Eggman finally clamping down.

She then let out a fierce growl, saying with anger, "That rotten scientist! How dare he try to keep me from helping out my true love!"

Within moments, Amy tried to bash down the door with her Piko Hammer, hitting the metal door again and again as hard as could. However, that move on her part ended up being in vain, as the Hammer could barely even put a dent in its structure.

In spite of this setback however, the pink hedgehog pressed on, determined to break the door down.

A few floors up, Kitty, along with Sonic and Knuckles prepared to work together to break the door in front of them down.

Kitty then told them while she grabbed Topaz's M32 MGL, "I'll weaken the door with a grenade."

Turning to Knuckles, she said to him, "After the explosion dies down, use your super punch a couple of times to weaken it further."

A split second after saying that, the feline agent now glanced at Sonic and said, "Once Knuckles does that, you try and cut through it with your spin dash. You got it?"

"You sure this plan of yours is going to work?" Sonic asked, still skeptical.

"Not entirely, but we don't have a lot of options here." Kitty answered. "Let's give it a try, shall we?"

Sonic nodded his head, replying, "All right then."

Moments later, both Sonic and Knuckles stood back and waited as Kitty prepared to fire.

With only six grenades left in her weapon, every one of them would have to count.

Kitty then fired a single grenade at the center of the metal door, resulting in a moderate sized explosion on contact.

Once the fire and smoke died down, Knuckles quickly charged towards the door, winding his right fist while doing so and then swung.

Thanks to Kitty's M32, the door had been weakened enough that Knuckles' super punches were able to put major dents in it. In fact, it was beginning to bend backwards to the point of breaking off.

However, the door was still too tough for the red echidna to blast through.

After Knuckles punched the door as hard as he could five times, Sonic then spun into a ball and attacked the door with a spin dash, trying to cut the metal on its structure even further back.

As Kitty had thought, Sonic was able to cut into the now heavily damaged metal door. Nonetheless, like Knuckles, he still couldn't break through.

"Ah, after all that work, we could barely put a small hole in it." Sonic commented, trying to catch his breath after stopping his spin dash.

"We're still making solid progress." Kitty reiterated. "We should be able to get through within a minute."

"That's still too much time." Sonic argued. "Who knows how long that Gamma bot can keep that metal faker of mine at bay?"

Kitty then put a hand under her chin to think, as Knuckles asked her a couple of seconds later, "You got an idea to break it down faster?"

"Maybe…"

"Well, spit it out, Kitty." Sonic said a bit out of patience. "We don't have time to sit and think."

"I know that, Sonic." Kitty replied firmly. "But I need to study the door for a little bit. Give me about ten seconds, all right?"

Sonic took a heavy sigh, but answered while rolling his eyes, "Oh, all right, if you must."

Kitty then studied the door where they attacked it, replying with a snap of her fingers about seven seconds later, "I got it!"

"About time." Sonic muttered. "What you got cooked up?"

"The center of the door around the right side of it is weaker than the left." Kitty explained. "If Knuckles can punch that side as hard as he can and I hit the left almost simultaneously, it should bend to the point of breaking."

"It's worth a try." Knuckles stated. "Let's do it."

Moments later, Knuckles wound his fist again after facing the door and then swung at the door as hard as he could, hitting the right side of the center with all his strength.

A split second later, Kitty attacked the left side with her right foot, hitting it with a strong roundhouse kick.

Sonic quickly looked on after they hit the door and saw the aftermath, commenting, "Well, what do you know, you guys weakened it much further this time."

"But it's still not finished off." Knuckles replied with a frown.

"We'll have to hit it again." Kitty said.

And hit it again they did, using the same attacks as before. Unfortunately like before though, it was weakened even more, but was still not broken through.

Hit it with everything you got!" Kitty shouted with determination in her voice, while winding up her right leg. "We can do this, Knuckles!"

Knuckles took her words to heart, as he attacked even harder this time.

Kitty also attacked with more power with her right leg, hitting the door with everything she had.

This time, they finally broke through, leaving a large enough of a hold for them to crawl through.

Sonic looked on psyched up by their efforts, commenting with a thumbs up, "All right! Well done, guys! That was some way past cool teamwork!"

Kitty put her right hand on Knuckles shoulder, saying to him while looking at the red echidna in the eye, "Thanks for your help. I couldn't have done it without you."

"No problem." Knuckles replied with a slight smile. "Now, let's get going."

"Right."

After Sonic and Knuckles crawled through the hole in the door, Kitty grabbed Cream underneath the shoulders and lifted her inside, where the blue hedgehog quickly grabbed her and put her on the ground.

"Ok, Kitty, your turn." Sonic stated.

Kitty then crawled through the hole as fast, but as carefully as she could, soon climbing inside of it.

"All right, let's race, aces." Sonic added a second later.

And with that, they soon ran down the next flight of stairs, preparing for the next metal door that would eventually stand in front of them.

Kitty again carried Cream while they ran, but soon brought up the rear, as she found out she couldn't run as fast as before.

Cream soon happened to notice this, especially seeing the feline agent wincing a bit, asking, "Are you ok, Miss Kitty?"

"Yea, don't worry about it, Cream." Kitty replied, trying to tough it out. "Just a bit of a sore foot."

"Oh, ok."

Kitty though downplayed for her sake, soon thinking, _Maybe kicking that door three times wasn't such a smart idea after all. It really hurts to put full pressure on my right foot now. I almost wonder if I sprained or even broke a bone in it._

Kitty thought the latter was the least likely since she still could run at least partly, but still knew it would more than likely be a hindrance due to time not being on their side.

Less than thirty seconds later, they soon saw the next metal door in front of them.

After Sonic placed Kitty's gear on the ground, Kitty said, "Ok, let's try a C4 explosive this time. Maybe it'll cut our work to break it down in half."

"Fine by me." Sonic replied, reaching into her bag to fetch it.

After Sonic found it and handed the explosive to her, Kitty told them, "Stand clear back guys. This is a much more potent bomb than a grenade."

"Yea, yea, we know." Sonic replied non chalantly while walking out of harm's way. "Just hook that baby up already so we can get a move on."

"Err… right." Kitty said awkwardly.

Meanwhile, higher up in the base, the battle between Gamma and Metal Sonic was in full swing.

Thanks to having a Chaos Emerald in its possession, the E-102 was able to fight the much stronger Metal Sonic robot without too much difficulty, as it continued to fend off any of its attacks the blue spiky robot tried to muster, using its machine gun bullets to near perfection.

No matter what attack Metal Sonic tried to use, Gamma's bullets repelled it with ease. Again and again, Metal Sonic could not get within ten feet of this E-series robot.

Eggman, who happened to keep an eye on this battle, was growing more and more frustrated with every passing second.

After a minute of the same results, Eggman muttered with disgust, "I cannot believe this! Metal Sonic is useless against that traitorous robot! Who would've thought it would use the same Chaos Emeralds I stole against me?"

He then added with a sigh, "Well, this is what I get for trusting those two imbeciles. I should have piloted that machine myself now that I look back on it. No matter… Gamma won't be able to keep this up too much longer. Soon or later, it'll run out of bullets, and then Metal Sonic will turn him into a tin can!"

However, for the time being, Gamma continued to school Metal Sonic. Not even attempting Rouge's screw kick worked, as the bullets repelled the blue spiky robot out of range, where it hit the ground, not even able to put a hole in it thanks to Gamma's bullets slowing it down.

Eggman's patience grew thinner after seeing this, commenting, "I'm going to have to send a decoy robot in there soon to knock Gamma off balance before he ends up doing major damage to Metal Sonic."

Fortunately for the mad doctor though, he wouldn't have to.

Unknown to him and the others, he would get unexpected help, ironically by another of his henchmen bots, none other than the one Eggman nicked named, "Robo Messenger."

Bokkun during this time finally managed to fly back to the base after being sent hurtling a ways off by the E-18. In spite of being moderately damaged a bit from the grenade attack earlier, the small flying robot was determined to prove his builder wrong about his true potential.

Bokkun soon saw Gamma continuing to spray his bullets at Metal Sonic, thinking with a frown, so_… Gamma really did betray Dr. Eggman. Well, I'll make him pay for that and show Eggman what I can really do!_

Bokkun then winded up to use his signature attack, waiting for the right opportunity to attack so he wouldn't get hit by Gamma's bullets.

Once the E-102 was close enough for his tastes, Bokkun instantly went to strike, as he executed a strong Bokkun kick, aimed directly at its head.

Gamma unfortunately never saw Bokkun coming and was hit in the head with full force.

Instantly, the E-102 recoiled from the attack, as it was knocked back several feet seriously stunned.

With Gamma's bullets no longer firing at Metal Sonic, the blue spiky robot soon cleared its head and then charged up a spin dash, preparing to hit the E-102 with everything it had.

Gamma meanwhile saw Bokkun and said to him firmly, "You dare interfere with my mission, Eggman robot? I shall terminate you too for your crimes against the world."

Gamma then aimed his machine gun at Bokkun, making the flying robot look on a bit panicked.

Bokkun though had nothing to worry about, as Metal Sonic came flying in a split second before Gamma could fire, slamming into the E-series robot's chest with brute force upon impact.

Being the much stronger robot, Gamma was blasted fiercely by Metal Sonic's spin dash, where it soon crashed into the wall behind it. Gamma even lost the Chaos Emerald in its hand due to being hit so hard.

"Yes!" Eggman shouted with glee, raising his hands up high. "Trash that robot, Metal Sonic!"

Again, Eggman forgot about Metal Sonic being currently berserk and unresponsive, but it didn't seem to matter anymore. Metal Sonic was carrying out Eggman's orders regardless, even if it didn't realize it.

Metal Sonic then used all its learned moves from Sonic and his friends with perfection, attacking Gamma with several more of Sonic's spin dashes, Knuckles' super punch, even Kitty's roundhouse kicks.

Gamma during this time was powerless to fight back, as Metal Sonic's speed and power was too much for it handle. Within fifteen seconds, Metal Sonic seriously damaged Gamma's body, especially its metal legs, as the blue spiky robot was trying to cripple the E-102 to the point it could not even more.

Ten seconds later, Metal Sonic rammed Gamma again into the wall with another powerful spin dash. This time, Gamma's legs were so heavily damaged from the collision, it could barely stand up.

Eggman looked on with complete elation, shouting, "Yes! Yes! Yes! That's it! Well done, my secret weapon! Now deliver the finishing blow!"

Bokkun though made the mistake of picking up the Chaos Emerald and tried to hand it to the Metal Sonic robot, saying, "Here, use this to finish off Gamma."

Metal Sonic, being berserk and out of control, instead violently attacked Bokkun, hitting him with Sonic's spin dash, Knuckles' super punch, and even Kitty's roundhouse kick, in successive fashion.

Eggman was now dumbfound, shouting, "No, no, you stupid robot! He was trying to help you! Don't attack him!"

Metal Sonic though paid no attention, as it now damaged Bokkun even more than Amy had done to Decoe and Becoe.

Now heavily sparking inside, Bokkun asked it weakly while on the ground, "Why did you attack me? I'm on your side."

Metal Sonic meanwhile prepared to finish off this small robot, that is until it received interference.

Gamma during this time took another shot at Metal Sonic, in spite of its injuries, firing its bullets again to try and carry out its mission

Unfortunately though, due to being heavily damaged and not having the Chaos Emerald anymore to attack, its bullets instead deflected off the blue spiky robot without so much as a scratch.

Metal Sonic soon turned around at Gamma's futile move, now wanting to finish it off first instead. But before it did, Metal Sonic saw the Chaos Emerald on the floor nearby its feet and picked it up.

Within seconds, it intensified Metal Sonic's power output, now almost tripling it from before.

Eggman looked on with deep intrigue and concern, as he wasn't sure what the Chaos Emerald would do to his super robot.

However, Metal Sonic wouldn't get a chance to show what it could.

Again, the blue spiky robot would receive yet another interference, this time by none other than the rogue bat herself.

Even Eggman was shocked to see Rouge show up out of the blue, attempting to attack it with a powerful screw kick from behind.

Metal Sonic though saw it coming a split second before the manipulating bat attacked, but that wasn't enough to evade, as it still was in the line of fire.

While Rouge's screw kick didn't hit Eggman's secret weapon directly, it did though send it crashing into the hole made by the her attack, which in turn seriously stunned it.

And as an added bonus, the Chaos Emerald Metal Sonic was currently was knocked clean out of its hand as a result, flying into the air where it soon descended to the ground below.

Rouge instantly pounced on the loose gem in the air, as she quickly flew towards it and firmly grabbed the Emerald in her right hand.

Eggman could only watch dumbfounded, as the manipulating bat soon flew towards the hole in the wall made by Knuckles from before and left.

Eggman then growled fiercely, as Metal Sonic finally stood up from the hole Rouge had made and instantly gave chase.

"Get her!" He ordered Metal Sonic. "I want that bat's hide and I want it now!"

Metal Sonic again inadvertently followed Eggman's orders, as it soon flew out of the hole and pursued the female bat with vigor.

After it left, Bokkun continued to spark out of control, saying to Eggman with a whimper, "Help me, Doctor."

Eggman though turned his nose at the small flying robot, retorting with a frown, "And why should I do that, when you couldn't even defeat one of my enemies?"

"But… I helped Metal Sonic take down Gamma." Bokkun argued.

"Small potatoes." Eggman shot back. "And besides, all you basically did was get its attention. Any of my junk robots could have done that much."

Bokkun by this was angry inside, shouting, "You owe me, Doctor! I sacrificed my body for you to help you win the battle!"

But again, Eggman turned a deaf ear to his words, saying, "I don't have any more time to waste on you, Bokkun. You've served your purpose, and now you're through. Consider yourself scrap metal."

Bokkun was about to curse violently at Eggman for his cold altitude, but Gamma silenced the small flying robot permanently before he could, as it fired dozen of bullets at Bokkun.

With Bokkun already on its last legs, Gamma put him out of his misery, as the small flying robot soon sparked out of control, where his CPU and electronic components shut down entirely, falling to the ground dead.

To no one's surprise, Eggman displayed no sympathy for Gamma killing Bokkun.

Gamma meanwhile struggled to get up, as it had been down on its knees due to heavy damage from its legs.

Nonetheless, it said in the same monotone voice, "I cannot stop. I must terminate Eggman's robot at all costs and help Amy Rose defeat Eggman."

As for Rouge, she flew towards the lower part of Eggman's base, trying to use her acute hearing to see where in the building they were so she could use a screw kick to help break through the wall.

During her time in the air, the words of Topaz and Cream again flashed through her mind.

_I knew you were a good person deep down. That's why I never lost faith in you when I heard rumors of you being a turncoat._

Even though Topaz's scolding words after she had been found out hurt her deeply inside, this saying of her former friend from before stuck to her mind.

_It's not too late for you to make up for your past mistakes, Miss Rouge._

Rouge at this moment could still picture Cream's face in her mind, as she could sense the young rabbit meant every word she had said to her. The fact Cream still believed in her now even after everything deeply touched the female bat inside.

She then thought with a firm determination on her face, _Yes, Cream, I will indeed make up for my past mistakes and fix what I have wronged._

Moments later, she added, _Topaz, I will soon show you that your faith in me wasn't in vain._

While this was going on, Kitty finally pressed the trigger on her remote detonator in her hand, resulting in a huge explosion.

However, when the smoke and fire died down, the feline agent, along with Sonic and Knuckles discovered a horrifying sight… the C4 explosive did very little, if any damage at all to the metal door in front of them.

"Im…possible!" Knuckles said loudly dumbfounded. "That bomb did nothing?"

Sonic then commented with a frown, "Looks like Eggman's really trying to make it tough for us to escape."

Kitty though kept her composure, as she pulled out her RPG-7 from behind, replying while holding it firmly in her hands, "Well, if he's going to turn it up on us, then we better do likewise."

Sonic and Knuckles quickly turned their heads, as they quickly saw her aiming the weapon at the metal door.

After they ran behind her, Kitty quickly aimed and then pressed the trigger, releasing the warhead towards the center of the door.

Within seconds, it exploded on contact, resulting in an even larger explosion than the C4.

But like the C4 before it, the warhead only put another minor dent in the door's structure.

Even Kitty by this time couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"I don't believe it… How strong is this door anyway?" Kitty demanded frustrated.

"Never mind that." Knuckles replied with a frown while putting his fists up. "I'm going to beat that door down if it's the last thing I do!"

And with that statement, Knuckles charged towards the door and went to attack with every bit of strength he had. Once he was close enough, the red echidna again and again punched the door with complete fury.

But again, Knuckles' punches were not strong enough to break through. In spite of hitting the door a dozen and a half times, the metal door barely had a crack seeping through it.

Seconds later, Knuckles eventually stopped punching, as he needed a breather after hitting almost thirty times in a row.

"This is getting ridiculous!" Sonic stated, now angry himself. "That door should be weakened a little bit by now!"

Kitty then walked up to the door and studied, soon stating, "I think this might be the same door Eggman used on us when we tried to run up the stairs during that battle with that huge robot of his."

"What does that mean?" Sonic inquired.

"It means… this door will take a lot more work to break through." The feline agent explained.

Sonic soon sighed heavily, saying, "All right, what do you suggest we do then?"

"We'll have to use the same strategy from before, but use a bit more force." Kitty answered.

"Ok, let's do it then." Knuckles said, now having his breath back.

Kitty then instructed the red echidna, "Ok, I'm going to shoot a grenade with the M32 at the exact same spot I aimed at from before. After the fire and smoke dies down, you and Sonic use your special attack simultaneously to try and break a hole in the door with your combined power."

"Sounds like a solid plan to me." Sonic commented.

A few moments later, Kitty told the blue hedgehog, "Before I attack though, I need you to charge your spin dash to the max. We're going to need maximum power in order to break through."

"No prob." Sonic replied a bit confident. "Rad Red and I will give this metal door of Eggbelly's what for!"

Several seconds later, Kitty aimed the M32 at the door, as she shouted to Sonic, "Start charging!"

Within a split second, Sonic began to charge up, spinning in the exact spot over and over.

While he was doing that, Kitty instructed Knuckles, "Walk back about ten to fifteen towards the stairs in order to get a good head start. The faster you run towards the door, the more velocity you should be able hit it with."

Knuckles quickly nodded his head in agreement, as he soon backtracked towards the middle part of the stairs. Once he was in position, Knuckles placed a hand on the ground in a running stance pose, now anxiously waiting for the signal.

Five seconds later, figuring Sonic was charged up enough, Kitty fired a grenade from the M32 at the center of the metal door in front of her.

A split second after the grenade exploded, Kitty shouted to her comrades, "NOW!"

Instantly, both of them charged towards the door, as Sonic arrived first, hitting the door at top speed from his spin dash.

Not even two seconds later, Knuckles wound his right fist while running towards the metal door and then swung at it with all his might.

Thanks to brilliant teamwork, both were able to attack the door without getting injured by the blast or even hitting each other.

However, in spite of this strategy, the metal door still gave very little resistance, as it now began to bend backwards a tad where the explosions had hit.

Nevertheless, Knuckles and Sonic persisted, attacking the door again and again with their signature attacks.

While they did this, Cream asked Kitty a bit worried, "You think we'll be able to get past this door?"

"I don't know for sure, but we're going to give it our best shot." Kitty replied, putting a hand on her right shoulder to try and soothe her fears.

Meanwhile, outside the base, Rouge soon flew towards the lower part of the base, placing her ear on different places of the wall, trying to see where Kitty and the others currently were.

Seven seconds into this search, she finally heard their voices, making her think with a grin, _yes! I found them! Now to…_

Rouge unfortunately couldn't finish that thought, as she finally heard Metal Sonic trying to attack her from behind, using Sonic's spin dash to ram her against the wall.

Rouge though turned her head before it could hit her, where she then flew out of harm's way. Metal Sonic instead hit the wall where the female bat originally was, bouncing off of it with force.

Metal Sonic however righted itself within seconds after it missed its target, quickly pursuing after Rouge again.

Seeing she couldn't get to her comrades without first taking down Eggman's robot, Rouge said to the blue spiky robot boldly with a firm look on her face, "All right, you… You want a piece of me? Well, here I am! Just try and take me out if you can!"

Metal Sonic instantly responded to Rouge's dare, as it again flew towards her, spinning into a ball within seconds, attempting to attack the manipulating bat with ferocious power.

In spite of this, Rouge wasn't about to back down.

She then thought while flying towards it, _Topaz, this is for you._

With the Chaos Emerald firmly inside her pocket, Rouge prepared her countermeasures.

Moments later, Metal Sonic came flying in at full speed, trying to slam the female bat with fierce velocity.

Rouge though was more than ready for this attack, as she sidestepped out of the way in midair a second before it could hit her

In spite of this miss, Metal Sonic quickly turned itself around and charged after Rouge again, this time trying to hit her with Knuckles' super punch.

But again, Rouge easily evaded it, as she ducked underneath the attack before it could come close to hitting her.

Metal Sonic then came after her several seconds later after correcting itself a second time, now trying to wallop the female bat with Kitty's martial arts kicks.

Rouge on the other hand just grinned, thinking, _so pathetically predictable… Little does Eggman realize, I previously battled Knuckles and Kitty. I know their attack patterns pretty much by heart now._

Rouge then grabbed the Chaos Emerald from her pocket and held it firmly in her hand, thinking again, _Ok, let's just see how much power this little gem has in it._

Winding her right leg up as far as it would go, the manipulating bat waited until Metal Sonic was close enough to hit.

Once it was within range, Rouge used every bit of strength from her right leg to hit the blue spiky robot with, executing a perfectly timed swinging roundhouse kick on its head.

To Rouge's shock, her kick attack turned out to be alot stronger than she even realized. Due to already having strong leg muscles, the Chaos Emerald in her possession only enhanced that strength in her leg by a good 50%. In fact, Metal Sonic was soon sent careening towards the ground below as a result of this.

Rouge then thought with another sly grin, well, _this gem may turn out to be more useful than I originally thought._

Rouge though wouldn't have time to ponder this for long, as Metal Sonic quickly recovered in midair while being hurtled towards the ground below, where it soon gave chase yet again.

Seeing it coming for her again, Rouge thought with a bit of an annoyance, _I'm going to have to put this thing away soon or this metal monstrosity will no doubt try and hurt my friends._

From that moment on, Rouge and Metal Sonic dueled with fierce intensity, as each side now traded blows.

Since carrying the Chaos Emerald in her hand during the whole battle would be too risky, Rouge was forced to put it away at times in order to keep out of the wrong hands. Not to mention she felt she could use the gem to help them escape.

A minute into this battle, Rouge then unfortunately mistimed a flying roundhouse kick aimed at Metal Sonic's head, instead sailing over the blue spiky robot.

Metal Sonic instantly took advantage of this mistake, as it used Knuckle's uppercut punch underneath her chin to knock her backwards, as well as seriously stun her.

Rouge though recovered quickly in midair within a couple of seconds, as she soon saw Metal Sonic attempting to attack her with another spin dash.

Again, Rouge was able to evade it, sidestepping to the right while flying in midair.

Metal Sonic then tried to spin dash her a second time after turning itself around, but failed yet again, as Rouge was too agile for this robot while in the air.

In spite of these failures, the blue spiky robot persisted, as it now came after Rouge, trying to hit her with Kitty's martial arts kick.

But like before, Rouge continued to outwit Eggman's robot, again evading its attack, this time ducking underneath the kick attempted by Metal Sonic.

As a result of this missed attack, Metal Sonic ended up bouncing off the wall a second time, causing a slight crack in the wall behind Rouge.

Seeing this put a sly grin on the female bat's face, as she soon thought, _I think I might be able beat this thing after all._

From that moment on, Rouge prepared her countermeasures, hoping for Metal Sonic to try and hit her with Knuckles' super punch.

Sure enough, after another two failed attempts, which was another spin dash and a roundhouse kick, Metal Sonic then tried to hit Rouge with Knuckles' signature move.

Once Rouge saw it winding its fist, she thought firmly, _I got you now, bot._

Rouge then quickly, but methodically pulled out her Chaos Emerald from her pocket and held it high in her right hand.

Moments later, Metal Sonic attempted to swing at the bat with full strength.

Unfortunately for the blue spiky robot though, Rouge was one step ahead of it, as she grabbed its metal hand firmly with her own hand.

Rouge knew she was taking a huge risk when attempting this, since Metal Sonic was clearly stronger, but decided it was worth it.

Fortunately for the female bat though, it paid off.

Thanks to the Chaos Emerald in her possession, Rouge was able to clamp down on the blue spiky robot without too much difficulty. Metal Sonic of course tried hard to get free, but was unable to.

_Now to trash this robot big time! _Rouge thought with fierce glare on her face.

And trash it she did.

Rouge then slammed its metal head against the wall behind it over and over, trying to bust its CPU circuits to pieces.

Not surprisingly, with Metal Sonic being made of high density steel, that proved to be easier said than done. Even when Rouge slammed its head a half a dozen times, Metal Sonic's outer shell was still pretty much intact. Nonetheless, its CPU vision was beginning to short in and out due to all the abuse.

_All right… _Rouge thought with a frown, _if I can't break you, I'll knock you senseless! _

The female bat then quickly changed strategies, as she now pinned the seriously stunned Metal Sonic robot against the wall and began to kick it with her strong legs again and again, trying to weaken, as well as stun it even further.

She had been holding the Chaos Emerald in her hand during the entire assault.

After another half a dozen kicks, Rouge noticed Metal Sonic could barely kick its head up anymore, as sparks began to come out of it more fervently

That was all she needed to see to realize its CPU brain was seriously shorting out inside.

_Perfect… _Rouge thought with another grin. Now_ to take full advantage of this opportunity._

Rouge did just that, as quickly flung Metal Sonic out in the open away from the base, where she then flew towards and kicked its head with ferocious aerial kicks. This time, she did not use the Chaos Emerald since the risk of dropping was too great.

After hitting it five more times, Rouge grabbed Metal Sonic by its metal head with her left hand and then flew towards about fifty feet away from the island.

Eggman, who had been watching with obstructed cameras thanks to Tails' attack in his control room earlier, was beside himself.

"I..Impossible!" he shouted. "How was she able to beat my machine by herself?"

Seconds later, Rouge firmly grabbed the Chaos Emerald with her right hand. Once she clutched it tightly, the female bat then flung the blue spiky robot with all her strength towards the salty waters below.

Since Metal Sonic was still heavily stunned, it didn't get its sense back until after it had been tossed.

By that time, it was too little, too late. Metal Sonic unfortunately could not stop itself in time, as it quickly plunged into the ocean floor within seconds.

After Rouge saw it disappear into the waters below, she dusted her hands while hovering,  
>commenting, "Well, that takes care of that bot."<p>

She then flew back towards Eggman's base, saying with determination in her voice, "And now to stick it to the mad doctor."

During her trip back unfortunately, Eggman finally saw the Chaos Emerald in her hand while viewing one of his remaining cameras, as she had pulled it out to prepare her next move.

"Why that no good… No wonder she could beat up Metal Sonic… She was using a Chaos Emerald!"

Deeply incensed, Eggman kept an eye on the camera where Metal Sonic had been flung into the ocean, hoping to see it come out of the salty waters.

He then said while gritting his teeth after thirty seconds, "C'mon, you stupid robot, get out of there already!"

While this was going on, Rouge finally flew back towards the spot from before.

Thanks to the dents made by Metal Sonic from before, the female bat easily found the area where her comrades previously were.

Rouge then put her ear against the wall again, just to see if they were still.

Sure enough, they were.

Once she heard their voices a second time, Rouge quickly flew back about twenty feet, where she then grabbed the Chaos Emerald firmly in her right hand and aimed for the crack in the wall.

A split second later, Rouge unleashed her screw kick.

Since she was holding the Chaos Emerald again, her screw attack this time was faster and had a lot more velocity.

Twenty five seconds earlier, the assault on the metal door continued to be in vain.

Since it was super thick and made of high density metal, Knuckles and Sonic could not break a hole in the door. Instead, the best they could do was dent it back a couple more feet.

"I cannot believe this!" Knuckles shouted with disgust after stopping to wipe the sweat from his brow. "We're getting absolutely nowhere!"

Sonic too stopped eventually, adding with frown, "This is one time I couldn't agree more with Rad Red. That metal door is mondo thick."

Even Kitty was beginning to feel very nervous inside, as she knew time was not on their side.

Cream then asked the feline agent with a bit of fear on her face, "Are we doomed, Miss Kitty?"

Kitty though didn't get a chance to answer; they all heard a loud crashing sound from upstairs.

"What in the world was that?" Knuckles demanded, looking towards the stairs.

The female bat however answered that question for them, as she quickly came flying in, shouting, "Out of the way, guys!"

"Rouge?" Everyone in the room said this in almost perfect unison.

Within seconds, Rouge executed another screw kick, aimed at the center of the metal door; the same exact spot Sonic and Knuckles had been trying to break down with their signature attacks.

"Get down!" Kitty instructed to the others, grabbing Cream and ducking onto the floor.

Even Sonic and Knuckles did likewise, as the female bat soon sailed over them, making direct contact with the metal door.

This time, the center of the metal door was blasted off, leaving a huge gaping hole in it.

Kitty soon looked up completely astounded, commenting softly, "Rouge… you…"

Moments later unfortunately, the same whirring sound from before was heard the same vicinity as the crashing sound not even fifteen seconds ago.

"That sound…" Kitty said alarmed after standing up. "It's back!"

Sonic and Knuckles quickly stood up as well, as they too looked on a bit on edge.

Rouge however kept her composure, saying firmly, "Get a move on, guys. I'll cover you in the meantime."

Knuckles though spoke up, replying with a frown after pushing her back with the back of his hand, "Oh no, this one's for me."

Before Rouge could argue with him, Knuckles added, "I've got a score to settle with this machine anyway."

Moments later, Metal Sonic came flying down the stairs at full speed, where it soon spun into a ball, attempting to attack with Sonic's spin dash.

Knuckles then charged towards the blue spiky robot, winding his fist back, now waiting for it to be close enough to attack.

When it was finally close enough, the red echidna instantly swung his fist at Metal Sonic as hard as he could, hitting it directly in the center of its ball form.

Metal Sonic was immediately sent flying backwards, where it violently ricocheted off the walls up the stairs, eventually coming to a stop flat on its back halfway in-between.

A second later, Knuckles looked on with satisfaction, as he turned back towards his comrades.

During that time, Kitty said to Rouge still a bit dumbfounded, "Rouge… I… thought you were left us for good."

Rouge shook her head in response, replying, "I thought I would too."

"What happened?" Kitty inquired.

"Well, I really thought about flying away to another location…" Rouge explained softly. "But… I just couldn't, especially not after the way I broke Topaz's trust."

"So… you really do care about her." Kitty commented after a brief pause.

Before Rouge could respond to her statement, Knuckles spoke up, saying, "Ok, I'm confused here."

"Same here." Sonic said, adding his own two cents. "You two mind explaining what happened during our time away?"

Kitty lowered her head in shame, as she was about to explain it to them what really did happen between them.

However, Metal Sonic then abruptly stood up, where it began to whir loudly again.

"Man, does that thing ever quit?" Sonic commented with disgust.

"I'll take care of this thing this time." Knuckles stated, putting his fists up to fight. "Just leave it to me."

Rouge though this time pushed him back with the back of her right hand, replying firmly, "No, I'll do it."

"What?" Knuckles looked at her dumbfounded by her firm resolve, inquiring, "Why do you want to fight this thing?"

Rouge though couldn't answer, as Metal Sonic quickly came charging in, attempting to attack this time with her own screw kick.

Sonic however saw it coming, saying, "Enough of this arguing, this thing is mine!"

And with that, the blue hedgehog instantly charged towards Metal Sonic at full speed.

Thanks to his super speed and quick thinking, Sonic beat the blue spiky robot to the punch, as he slammed heavily Metal Sonic a split second before it could attack, executing a perfectly timed spin dash.

Again, Metal Sonic was hit with ferocious power, knocking it up the stairs a second time.

While these two dueled, Knuckles turned to Rouge and said, "Look, just help Kitty get Cream to safety. Sonic and I will block this robot's path in the meantime."

"No, I'll keep this thing busy for now." Rouge replied firmly, shaking her head. "You guys go on ahead."

"Why are you so insistent on this?" the red echidna inquired. "Are you that eager to fight this metal beast just for the fun of it?"

Rouge instantly gave Knuckles a dirty look, replying, "That is the farthest thing on my mind right now."

"Then what is it?" Knuckles demanded. "I don't get you."

At first, Rouge hesitated to say it, but then did, answering with her head down softly, "It's something I just have to do."

"What are you talking about?" Knuckles asked perplexed. "Why do you have to do this?"

Moments later, their conversation was instantly halted, as Sonic abruptly slammed the wall above them, where he fell to the ground below in a heap.

"Sonic!" Kitty instantly ran towards him, now deeply concerned about his wellbeing.

The blue hedgehog unfortunately had been sent flying after Metal Sonic slammed him hard using Knuckles' super punch.

Within seconds, Metal Sonic came charging towards them at full speed.

Rouge meanwhile flew towards the blue spiky robot a split second after spotting it, where she then executed another screw kick.

Again, her timing was right on the money, as she aimed directly at Metal Sonic's head.

But like before, Metal Sonic was able to slow down in time to evade getting hit.

Nonetheless, it felt the jolting effects, as the female bat instead hit the step of the stairs directly in front of it. This in turn put a big hole in the stairs, sending the blue spiky robot careening inside of it after being rocked off balance.

And as an extra bonus, chunks of the broken stairs fell on top of Eggman's robot.

Rouge meanwhile finally flew back towards her comrades, telling them firmly, "You guys need to go now. That thing will be back very soon."

Knuckles again was about to protest, but was soon silenced, as Rouge tossed the red echidna the Chaos Emerald in her possession, saying, "Here, take this."

Knuckles quickly caught the Emerald, asking, "Where did you find this gem?"

"Never mind that." Rouge replied. "Just go. Help Cream get out of here safely.

While this was going on, Sonic finally stood up after shaking his head to regain his focus, commenting, "Man, that bot really rocked me."

Knuckles gave one last protest, saying, "You can't beat this thing by yourself, so why are you even bothering?"

"I told you." Rouge answered with a frown. "Someone has to keep this thing busy. It might as well be me."

"Then at least allow me to help you then." Knuckles countered. "We should be able to beat this thing together."

"And risk Metal Sonic hurting Cream should we fail? No way!" Rouge shot back. "Besides, you need to be down there and help Kitty and Sonic break through any remaining metal doors so she can get out unharmed."

Knuckles again tried to argue, but Metal Sonic finally broke free of the debris, putting everyone on alert.

"We gotta move now, guys!" Kitty exclaimed. "We don't have much time left."

"But what about Rouge?" Knuckles argued. "We can't just leave her to fight this thing by herself."

Kitty then put a hand on Knuckle's shoulder, replying, "I think we should do as she says. Rogue feels she has to do this alone, so who are we to stop her?"

"But…"

Moments later, Rouge and Metal Sonic went to duel again, as the female bat beat it the punch, hitting it with a strong flying roundhouse kick.

Metal Sonic again was knocked back, landing in the same hole from before.

Rouge then turned to look at Knuckles after doing this and said sharply, "Knuckles, I swear if you don't help Cream escape, I'm going to kick your butt when I'm done here!"

Finally, Knuckles relinquished with a loud grunt, as he nodded his head with a frown, where he and Sonic quickly turned to leave with Cream in tow.

Kitty was about to leave with them as well, when Rouge said to her, "Hey, Kitty…"

"Yea…?"

Rouge at first looked at the ground ashamed, where she eventually looked the feline agent in the eye, saying softly, "I'm sorry…"

"Pardon me?"

Rouge looked her firmly in the eye now, adding, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you earlier."

Kitty soon looked at the ground herself, replying with guilt in her eyes, "I'm sorry too… I was wrong to try and make that fight a personal conflict between us."

"Well, what's done is done." Rouge stated after a brief pause. "The important thing now is that you help that young child escape and defeat Eggman, right?"

"Right." Kitty said. "I just wish I understood though why you insist on fighting Eggman's robot alone now."

"Because…" Rouge replied after a long pause while looking away, "It's the only way I know Topaz will forgive me."

"Oh." After Kitty heard that, she completely understood, saying, "You know, I really don't think you have to do something this drastic in order to get Topaz's attention."

"Maybe not… but like I said, somebody has to do it." Rouge explained. "It might as well be me."

Kitty at this point didn't bother arguing with her about it.

Moments later, Metal Sonic finally stood up again, trying to clear it head, as Kitty quickly said to Rouge after witnessing this, "Good luck to you, Rouge."

Rouge nodded her head, in response, as the feline agent turned to leave.

But before she did, Rouge added, "Kitty…"

"Yea, Rouge?"

"Tell Topaz how sorry I am for hurting her in case I don't make it out of here."

"Don't be silly, Rouge." Kitty replied. "I'm sure you'll…"

"Please, just do as I ask." Rouge reiterated firmly. "I need her to know."

Kitty at this point nodded her head, saying, "Very well then."

And with that statement, Kitty ran down the stairs.

Rouge meanwhile looked back at Metal Sonic with a fierce glare , saying, "Ok, you hunk of scrap metal, let's do this…"

Back outside, Tails by this time had flown back onto the main navy ship to give the crew a hand in accessing the backup network.

Since the President had made it crystal clear they weren't to give the two tailed fox a bad time, none of the crew onboard dared to try and stop him.

As originally feared, the network couldn't be accessed without a key sensitive cryptic password.

Thankfully though, the G.U.N Commander was able to eventually remember it after racking his brain for a bit.

As it turned out, the password was none other than the President's middle name.

Tails then typed in the name and pressed the enter button, commenting softly, "I hope this works…"

At first, the system did not respond positively or negatively for about ten seconds due to being old and slow.

After that though, Tails finally saw the logged in screen, making him shout with glee, "Yes, we're in!"

"Well done, lad." The President stated.

Commander Towers then spoke up and said, "Ok, fox, we can take it from here…"

The President though gave him a scolding look, saying firmly, "Commander, let him handle this."

"But, sir…"

The President instantly interrupted him, reiterating, "This young fox is a whiz on the computer. I say we give him the first shot at helping us make immediate contact with the missile base.

"But, Mr. President." The G.U.N Commander argued. "I have professional computer operators to do that for us."

"Yes… but it was those same operators who gave him a bad time just because he wanted to borrow a lab top in order to help get his jet going." The President countered. "That in my book is shameful and selfish behavior."

"Sir, I dealt with them appropriately once they got out of line." Commander Towers explained.

"And I'm glad you did." The President replied. "Nevertheless, as of this moment, since this young lad has gone out of his way to help us win the battle, I trust him with our network over any of your so called experts."

Commander Towers could instantly tell by the tone in his voice that the President was very angry with him, as well as his men for how badly they had failed earlier. So, to help calm the waters and protect his own hide, Abraham said to the President after a brief pause, "You're right about that, sir. In fact, I'll admit I'm very grateful for the fact he wants to help us succeed."

"Good." The President said back. "I'm glad to see you're finally getting your head out of the clouds for a change."

Tails meanwhile did not believe the Commander's words one bit, as he couldn't help but feel his whole speech was nothing but hypocrisy.

Nevertheless, Tails wouldn't have a chance to think this over for too long, as he finally reached the main page to access the missile program.

"Ok, I'll need the missile codes now in order to program the coordinates." Tails told them.

The President then looked at the computer technicians standing by and said with a frown, "Well, you heard the lad. Go fetch those missiles codes right away!"

"Yes, sir!" They all replied in unison, instantly saluting him.

And with that, they all ran to the inner hull.

Once they were out of sight, the President asked the two tailed fox, "How long do you think it'll take you to set the coordinates?"

"Well, if I can get them right away," Tails replied, "within five to ten minutes tops."

"Excellent." The President stated with a smile.

"However, I do still have some concerns about how long it'll take for the system to launch the missiles, as well the effects the blasts will have on the ships." Tails added with a concern on his face.

"Don't you worry about that." Commander Towers told him, speaking up. "I already have that formula down to a science. Once Agent Katswell and her friends are onboard the ship, I'll have the missiles instantly launched, but we'll have plenty of time to get out of its range."

"Oh, I see…" Tails commented softly. "Well, that's good to know."

Twenty seconds later, a G.U.N technician came out with the book, shouting, "I got it!"

"Quick, hand it to this young fox right now so he can get started." The President ordered.

"Yes, sir, Mr. President." The technician replied, saluting him again.

Once the book was in the two tailed fox's possession, Tails said softly to himself while skimming through it, "Ok, now to find the right codes so I can program the missiles designated targeted…"

While this was going, Kitty and the others ran down the next flight of stairs as fast as they could. Since the feline agent's right foot was still a bit sore, she wasn't able to run as fast as she would have liked.

Ten seconds later though, she finally caught up to the others, as Sonic said while tapping his foot, "There you are. Where you were this whole time?"

"Sorry… Rouge wanted to talk with me privately about something." Kitty replied hesitantly.

"What's going on with that bat girl anyway?" Knuckles inquired with a frown. "She's been acting very mysterious after I left to help the President and Topaz off the island."

"I'll tell you about later." Kitty answered with a heavy sigh. "Right now, we need to utilize this time Rouge has given us to keep Metal Sonic off our backs to the fullest."

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Sonic said firmly. "Let's get cracking.

Kitty then grabbed her M32 and told Knuckles after it was firmly in her hands, "Ok, like before, once I hit the door with a grenade, attack the center of it with your super punch."

Knuckles quickly nodded his head, but Sonic soon spoke up, saying, "Wait a sec… why not just use another warhead?"

"Because, Sonic…" Kitty explained. "I'm only down to one and I want to save that for Metal Sonic, should he come after us again."

"Oh…"

Moments later, Kitty aimed the M32 at the door and then fired a round.

As before, it exploded upon impact. But also like before, the grenade did very little damage to the door.

"Just as I thought…" Kitty stated softly with a frown. "This door too is also reinforced with super steel."

"Don't you worry about that." Knuckles replied confidently. "With the Chaos Emerald Rouge gave me, I'll trash this door with ease."

And with that statement, Knuckles charged towards the door while carrying the Emerald in his left hand, where he then wound his fist back again and then swung with all his might.

Like with Rouge, Knuckles' strength was also enhanced while holding the gem, as he was able to dent the door much further than before.

Even Sonic noticed the difference, commenting psyched up, "Oh yea, now that's what I'm talking about, Rad Red!"

Kitty then said to Sonic, "Hurry, help him cut through the door. I'll keep a close watch for Metal Sonic in the meantime in case he comes back."

"Right."

While Sonic ran towards the door to give a hand, Kitty brought out her metal shield she was carrying from behind her back, grabbing the handle behind it firmly in her left hand.

Once she was in position to counter any attacks, Cream asked Kitty a bit worried, "You think Miss Rouge will be ok fighting that robot by herself?"

"I think so." Kitty replied after a brief pause, again trying not to upset her. "She's a very tough individual after all."

Cream quickly nodded her head in agreement, as she had seen this first hand.

Kitty though was very worried inside, as she had seen how fierce of a robot Metal Sonic really was.

_Oh, Rouge… I really hope you know what you're doing. _Kitty thought with a sigh. _You could get yourself killed trying to redeem your reputation._

Kitty's fears sadly would not be that far off, as Rouge soon found herself in a fight for her very survival.

Now no longer having the Chaos Emerald to aid her, the female bat quickly discovered just how strong Metal Sonic really was as Eggman's secret weapon. When the two of them began to trade blows again, Rouge felt the effects of them that much more.

Even so, Rouge was determined to destroy Eggman's robot, as she personally wanted to cripple any chances he had left to win the war.

After thirty seconds of trading blows back and forth, Rouge realized she couldn't keep this up too much longer. Metal Sonic's hits were hurting the female bat alot more than hers was in damaging it.

Rouge then thought after bouncing off of the blue spiky robot again while hovering, _Ok, looks like I'm going to resort to outsmarting it again._

Moments later, Metal Sonic charged towards the female bat after landing, where it again spun into ball after getting airborne.

_Trying that predictable move on me again? _Rouge thought with a frown. _Well, if you insist._

By this time, Rouge knew how to counter Metal Sonic's spin dash attack with relative ease.

As before, the female bat moved out of the way while hovering, as the blue spiky robot blasted by a split second later, missing her yet again.

Metal Sonic then quickly changed direction and tried the same attack a second time.

Rouge however was way too familiar with this pattern, as she bobbed and weaved out of harm's way while flying.

When Metal Sonic tried it a third time consecutively, Rouge quickly decided to strike back and counter it.

Once the blue spiky robot got close enough, Rouge finally laid the smack down.

The female bat raised her right leg high during this time and then swung it low as hard as she could, trying to hit the blue spiky robot directly on its metal head.

Her aim was again right on the money, as Metal Sonic slammed against the stairs, bouncing off of it towards the bottom.

Metal Sonic though quickly got back up and came after Rouge again, this time trying to level her with Kitty's roundhouse kick.

But again, Rouge was one step ahead of this machine, as she grabbed Metal Sonic firmly by its right ankle.

Metal Sonic then tried hard to get free of her grip, but Rouge held onto it tightly nonetheless, as she refused to let go.

Before Metal Sonic could loosen her grip enough to break free, Rouge attacked it with fury, as she pulled off the same fighting move on Metal Sonic that Kitty had done to her during their previous battle, which was none other than slam the blue spiky robot against the wall back and forth several times.

After Rouge did this five times consecutively, she then tossed Eggman's robot towards the stairs below, as it instantly began to tumble violently downwards on impact.

Rouge still wouldn't let up, as she flew towards it as fast as she could.

Metal Sonic meanwhile finally came to stop near the bottom of the staircase flat on its back, as it tried to stand up and shake off the effects from before.

Rouge though didn't give this robot a chance to do so, as she came flying in at full speed, where she then leveled the blue spiky robot with a flying roundhouse kick to its head.

Again, Metal Sonic slammed against the floor with a violent thud, now seriously stunned.

Within seconds, the female bat continued her assault, as she soon pinned it the wall on the left and instantly began to unload on it, kicking it again and again with her strong legs as hard as she could.

After kicking it seven times in a row, Rouge grabbed Metal Sonic by its metal neck while it was heavily dazed and then tossed into the air.

Once it was in the air, Rouge flew towards it and then hit the blue spiky robot with another devastating roundhouse kick to its metal head.

Metal Sonic again was sent flying, crashing against the stairs about ten feet away, where it then rolled towards the bottom again, eventually falling into the hole Rouge had made earlier.

For the time being, Metal Sonic could barely move, as Rouge had done a number on it with her abilities.

Flashing a grin of satisfaction, Rouge then flew into the air and attempted to finish it off with her screw kick.

As she flew into the air and got into position, she thought firmly, _Eggman, I hope you're watching this, because I want you to personally witness the end of your empire's strength._

Moments later, Rouge went to attempt her screw kick, but then abruptly stopped, as she heard a huge thud sound from upstairs, completely startling her.

She then thought perplexed a few seconds later, _what in the world was that?_

In spite of her curiosity, Rouge decided to find out later and deliver the finishing blow to Eggman's secret weapon.

However, Rouge's brief curiosity would end up biting her big time.

Unknown to the female bat, Metal Sonic during this time was able to clear its CPU head enough to shake off the previous effects.

Rouge unfortunately found this out the hard way.

The second she attempted her screw kick, Metal Sonic quickly saw it coming and instantly countered it.

Halfway into her screw kick, the blue spiky robot finally flew out of the hole and then attempted another spin dash attack.

Since Rouge had no time to react, Metal Sonic blasted her with fury, sending the female bat flying into the wall from behind hard, crashing into it with devastating power.

Rouge immediately fell to the ground in a heap, as she had the wind knocked out of her as a result of Metal Sonic's spin dash.

To make matters worse, Metal Sonic, like Rouge had done with it, never gave her a chance to recover.

Metal Sonic quickly picked Rouge up by her neck and then attacked her almost exactly the same way as she had previously done.

Being heavily stunned as well, the female bat was powerless to do anything to fight back, as Metal Sonic pounded her whole body all over.

Pinning Rouge against the wall, the blue spiky robot kicked her hard several times with Kitty's roundhouse kick in the head, punched her in the gut over and over, where she soon fell to the ground in great pain.

Metal Sonic still wasn't through, as he picked up Rouge again by the neck and heaved her into the air, where it then slammed her against the wall with a strong spin dash.

This in turn caused Rouge to bounce off of it, where she soon fell to the ground below.

Metal Sonic however wasn't about to lay off just yet, as he nailed her with another devastating spin dash, sending her crashing toward the stairs below with a thud.

By this time, Rouge was seriously injured and could barely stay conscience, as she had hit head against one of the steps, putting a gash in her forehead that began to bleed a bit profusely.

Ironically for Rouge, Eggman had indeed been watching their duel, as he witnessed firsthand Metal Sonic literally beating the tar out of her.

The mad doctor then looked on with glee on his face; shouting with his hands raised high in the air, "Yes! Well done, Metal Sonic! Finish her off!"

Metal Sonic would again inadvertently follow his instructions, as the blue spiky robot quickly hovered into the air, where it would also ironically attempt to finish off Rouge with her own signature move.

Eggman during this time watched intently, as he wanted to see this up close and personal.

However, the mad doctor would not get his wish.

Within a split second of attempting the screw kick, Metal Sonic was interfered with yet again.

Out of nowhere, the blue spiky robot was hit in the chest by dozens of bullets. This in turn halted Metal Sonic from executing this move.

Eggman now looked on completely baffled, shouting, "NO! Who dares to stop my entertainment?"

Two seconds later, Eggman finally saw the culprit, none other than the heavily damaged E-102 Gamma itself.

"Eggman robot, I shall terminate you for good this time." Gamma declared. "Prepare to be annihilated."

"That blasted machine dares to try and stop my fun?" Eggman roared with a hiss. "I've had enough of him!"

He then growled and shouted at Metal Sonic, "Destroy that turncoat robot, NOW!"

Again, Metal Sonic would obey, but only because it too wanted to take on E-102 Gamma itself.

Within seconds, Metal Sonic charged after the E-102, determined to obliterate it.

Gamma instantly responded by firing more of its machine bullets, aiming for its head.

Unfortunately for the E-102, Gamma's bullets were useless against the blue spiky robot in that area, as they were deflected off with ease.

Metal Sonic then closed in and leveled Gamma before it could react with a devastating flying roundhouse kick to its metal head, slamming it backwards, where it landed flat on its back on top of the stairs.

Gamma quickly tried to get back on its weakened metal legs, but was unable to, as Metal Sonic hit it again, this time attacking it with a charged up spin dash.

Since Gamma's legs were already heavily damaged from before, it had no chance to get out of the way, as Metal Sonic blasted it with fury, this time knocking the E-series robot into the air, where it crashed towards the ground below, again flat on its back.

Rouge meanwhile during this battle had recovered enough strength, as she was now trying hard to crawl out of harm's way.

Metal Sonic though heard her grunts as she crawled, making it turn back to her.

Seeing the female bat on the ground, the blue spiky robot decided to cut her in two with another charged spin dash.

Gamma during this time was about to get back on its feet and saw what Metal Sonic was trying to do, as it said with determination, "I must stop Eggman's robot. I will not allow it to kill any more innocent lives."

Since this E-series robot could barely walk now, Gamma could only think of one thing to save Rouge.

It then jumped into the air used its rocket boosters to help it get closer. Once it was close enough, Gamma quickly descended towards the bottom of the stairs, where it then used its left metal hand to punch Metal Sonic from behind.

This is turn knocked the blue spiky robot into the air, exactly a split second before it launched, causing to ricochet off the walls.

Gamma during this time protected Rouge from getting hit, as it used its left metal hand again to nudge her into the hole in the stairs earlier.

This decision by the E-series robot turned out to be a very smart one, as Metal Sonic ended up bouncing off the exact same stair lift Rouge would have been on had it not been for Gamma's help.

Eggman again let out a growl of frustration, as he couldn't believe again how close Metal Sonic was in attempting to take out the manipulating bat, but had been interrupted.

The mad doctor then shouted, "Metal Sonic, I swear if you don't shred Gamma to pieces, I'm going to turn you into the world largest paper weight!"

Metal Sonic again ironically would follow Eggman's instructions, as the blue spiky robot was now bent on destroying Gamma for good this time.

Using its blistering speed and power, Metal Sonic gave Gamma no chance to fight back, as it attacked the E-series robot with a devastating spin dash.

Again, Gamma was knocked backwards on top of the stairs flat on its back.

Metal Sonic then instantly went to execute Rouge's screw kick, aiming for its metal head.

Gamma though saw it coming and tried to get out of harm's way by jumping towards the upper part of the stairs.

Unfortunately for the E-102, it could not jump out of the way fast enough, as Metal Sonic was still able to inflict heavy damage to it.

Gamma's legs ended up getting hit by the screw kick, which in turn tore them off completely.

Eggman's facial expression though instantly changed from anger to elation, as Metal Sonic's efforts had completely changed his attitude.

"YES!" he shouted with glee. "That's more like it! Now cut that robot up good!"

Metal Sonic would do just that, as it hovered into the air and attempted another screw kick on Gamma.

However, in spite of the fact it was legless and heavily sparking, Gamma still wouldn't back down. Once Metal Sonic was in the air again, Gamma gave one last shot of defiance, as it fired dozens at bullets, this time aimed at Metal Sonic's chest.

Since Metal Sonic's chest was technically its weak spot due to electricity flowing out of it fervently, the blue spiky robot was halted in its tracks, as it could not move due to the bullets causing huge interference to its inner circuits.

Eggman's facial expressions again changed, as he couldn't believe how Gamma was able to fight back in its weakened state.

"No way, I can't believe this!" he shouted while putting his hands on the side of his head. "Are you telling me that traitorous robot might actually take out Metal Sonic?"

Fortunately for Eggman, that would not happen.

Five seconds later, Gamma's machine gun abruptly quit working, as its heavily damaged state finally caught up to it, causing a complete malfunction of the E-102's weapon.

"Impossible." Gamma stated. "I cannot be out of ammo now."

But indeed it was, and Metal Sonic would soon take full advantage of it.

Metal Sonic instantly charged up another spin dash, where it then launched at full speed, aiming directly at Gamma's machine gun.

With no weapon at its disposal, Gamma could only watch in horror, as Metal Sonic cut through its right metal arm, ripping it off in one devastating swoop.

Metal Sonic then went for the kill after that, as it hit the E-102 with another two powerful spin dashes in successive fashion, damaging it even further where it was again flat on its back.

Now on its last legs, Metal Sonic finally put Gamma away for good, hitting the E-series robot with another screw kick, this time directly it in its lower metal chest.

Gamma was instantly crushed by this devastating attack upon impact, where it soon began to spark heavily out of control.

Within seconds, Gamma's main electrical circuits began to short out fervently, as it eventually slowed down and then shorted out completely.

Moments later, Gamma finally shut down completely, as the sparks began to die down. Even the green glow from its eyes finally went out of it as well, causing it to come to a stop, becoming dead as a doornail.

Eggman instantly cheered with delight in response to this, saying, "YES! Finally, I'm rid of that vile robot!"

He then let out a big sigh of relief, commenting, "One down, five to go."

Eggman again glanced at his monitors, as he hoped to watch Metal Sonic now take out Rouge as well.

Unfortunately for the mad doctor, that would not happen.

After wiping out Gamma, Metal Sonic's highly sensitive ears soon picked up some sounds from the stairs below, as it now heard Knuckles trying to blast through the door with his loud grunts.

Eggman during this time shouted at its robot, "Don't just stand there, you stupid robot, kill that meddlesome bat, now!"

This time, Metal Sonic's goals would be different than its builder, as it quickly blasted down the stairs toward the next floor.

"No, No, No! Come back here!" Eggman shouted again. "You can't just forget about Rouge! She's still too dangerous of an opponent!"

Metal Sonic however would not listen at all, as Eggman quickly realized it was still was in its berserk state.

He then said with a sigh after composing himself, "No matter… she's too injured to fight back now anyway. And if worse comes to worse, I'll finish her off myself."

Back down the stairs about thirty seconds earlier, the work on busting the door down continued.

During Rouge's battle with Metal Sonic, Knuckles and Sonic had made solid progress, but there was still a lot to do.

"Keep going, guys!" Kitty encouraged loudly. "We should have it down in less than a minute at this rate."

"I hope so." Knuckles muttered while punching the door in and gasping for air. "This is getting tiring."

Kitty then turned back to keep watch, thinking with concern, _I sure hope we can get Rouge out of here after Cream's safe._

Not even ten seconds later, the feline agent heard the same whirring sound from before, making her gasp in disbelief.

_No… please don't tell me that metal monster got past Rouge already!_

Unfortunately though, it was indeed true.

Cream soon heard it as well, making her gasp in fear, saying, "What do we do, Miss Kitty?"

Kitty quickly grabbed her metal shield from behind her back, replying to Cream after pulling her behind it, "Stay behind me, sweetie. This could get ugly."

Cream did as she was told, as she soon clinged to Kitty's right leg, trying not to tremble in great fear.

Moments later, Sonic and Knuckles finally heard the whirring sound themselves, making them stop their work on the metal door.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Sonic exclaimed with disgust, putting his hands on his waist. "That metal faker of mine is on our tails this soon?"

"I knew Rouge wouldn't be able to hand that machine alone." Knuckles added with a frown. "What was she thinking?"

"Never mind that, guys." Kitty reiterated. "Keep working on the door. I'll take care of Metal Sonic in the meantime."

"Are you out of your mind?" Knuckles demanded. "That thing will slaughter you."

"Just do it!" Kitty replied sharply. "We've got to get through that metal door."

"But what about Cream?" Sonic inquired.

"I'll protect her." Kitty answered with assurance. "Just please do as I ask."

With extreme reluctance on both of their faces, both of them did as they were told.

"This is nuts." Sonic commented with a frown. "How can I concentrate with Eggbelly's robot coming for us?"

"We'll just have to trust Kitty on this." Knuckles replied. "I don't like this anymore than you do."

Three seconds later, Metal Sonic was within twenty steps and closing.

The whirring sounds soon got louder and louder, making the young rabbit shake all over in a panic.

Kitty meanwhile kept her composure, as she soon grabbed her RPG-7 while gritting her teeth, saying softly to herself, "Come and get me, you metal monstrosity."

Metal Sonic did indeed come for her, as it was charging towards the feline agent at great speeds.

Finally, Kitty could see it coming down the steps, as she then put her index finger on the trigger ready to fire.

Metal Sonic however threw a huge monkey wrench in her plans.

Within a split second after being in the targeted range, Metal Sonic, who was gliding along the steps, quickly jumped into the air and then attempted a powerful spin dash, aimed directly at her shield.

Since he had executed all of this in less than two seconds, Kitty hesitated to pull the trigger, as she couldn't get a clear shot at it.

That unfortunately would be the least of her worries.

Metal Sonic then slammed into the feline agent's shield with a ton of force, knocking her onto the ground, flat on her back with the shield still on top of her.

Cream meanwhile had seen Metal Sonic coming for them, instantly let go of Kitty's leg and then moved to the right in a state of panic.

That move on her part ironically ended up preventing the young rabbit from getting injured, as Kitty would have fallen right on top of her.

Knuckles during this time had kept a watchful eye out during his work, where he saw Kitty getting nailed to the ground. The red echidna instantly gasped in disbelief, as he then ran towards the blue spiky robot, growling angrily.

"Come here, you blue troublemaker!" Knuckles shouted, swinging its fists at it.

While these two dueled, Cream ran towards Kitty and pulled the dented shield off of the feline agent, asking with deep concern on her face, "Miss Kitty, are you ok?"

Kitty thankfully only had the wind knocked out of her, as her metal shield ended up taking the brunt of the hit, commenting with a groan while putting a hand on her forehead, "I feel like I got hit by a truck."

As for Sonic, he soon stopped trying to cut through the door after stopping briefly to glance over. There, he too saw Metal Sonic and Knuckles battling.

This in turn caused the blue hedgehog to say while running over to them, "Oh no you don't, Rad Red. You ain't fighting this bot by yourself!"

Sonic soon joined the battle, as he tried to spin dash the blue spiky robot.

However, with the room corridor very narrow, he and Knuckles fighting Eggman's machine together would end up being an extremely difficult task, as both of them inadvertently getting in each other's way.

Kitty meanwhile during this time, finally got back on her feet and found her weapons bag that Sonic has carried down for her and laid it down before getting work. She then pulled out her M249 SAW laser machine gun and grabbed her firmly in her hands.

"What are you going to do?" Cream inquired with concern.

"Something I should have done a long time ago." Kitty replied with a firm look on her face.

Before she went to fight, Kitty told Cream, "head up to the top of the stairs and stay out of sight until we deal with this thing properly."

Cream instantly complied, as she nodded her head and ran up the stairs, now out of sight.

Once she was there, Kitty walked towards the battle, aiming her M249 SAW at Metal Sonic, trying to get a good shot at it.

But again, that would not happen for the time being, especially since Sonic and Knuckles were in an intense fight with the blue spiky robot.

Seconds later however, Kitty would get her shot.

Metal Sonic then outsmarted the blue hedgehog and red echidna, as it ducked a split second when both of them attempted to attack it at the exact same time, attempting a spin dash and a super punch.

This in turn led to an ugly collision, as both of them ricocheted off each other, slamming into the right and left side of the corridors walls, falling down in a heap. Even the Chaos Emerald was jarred loose as a result of this and fell onto the ground nearby.

Kitty quickly gasped in disbelief, as she then saw Metal Sonic trying to finish them off.

Kitty though would come to their rescue this time, as she fired her machine gun at the blue spiky robot a split second before it could, as she aimed for its metal chest, firing dozen of laser shots.

While her attacks didn't do much damage, her weapon did interfere with Eggman's robot to the point Metal Sonic quickly turned away from Knuckles and Sonic, now charging after the feline agent.

Once Kitty saw it coming for her, she then prepared for Phase two of her plan.

As soon as Metal Sonic was within ten feet of her, Kitty quickly grabbed her dented shield off the ground near her feet and then heaved it at Metal Sonic.

As she had thought, Metal Sonic instantly went to dodge it, jumping high into the air.

The second it did, Kitty unleashed counter measure, as she switched to the M32 MGL and then fired a grenade at its metal chest.

Since Kitty was able to switch weapons quickly and aim with precision, the feline agent got the shot off before the blue spiky robot saw it coming.

A second later, the grenade exploded on contact, knocking Eggman's robot backward, where it soon slammed against the metal door from behind, falling to the ground in heap.

After it hit the ground, Sonic and Knuckles finally stood up, still groaning in pain from the collision.

Kitty though quickly snapped them to attention, saying loudly, "Quick, Metal Sonic's now stunned. Let's finish it off!"

However, before either of them could attack it, Metal Sonic quickly stood up and prepared to attack again.

Sonic though was ready for it this time, saying with a firm look on his face, "Oh no you don't, metal faker!"

Sonic instantly spin dashed the blue spiky robot, again knocking it against the metal door.

Seeing this gave the feline agent an idea.

"Sonic, get the robot away from the door." She ordered.

"Why?" he asked with suspicion while dueling with it.

"Trust me on this." Kitty explained.

So, Sonic again complied, as he then ran towards the stairs while taunting, "Over here, metal faker. Catch me if you can."

Metal Sonic instantly took the bait, as it charged after the blue hedgehog.

Knuckles meanwhile attempted to take a swing at it while this was going on, but was stopped by Kitty, saying, "Forget about that robot. You have a more important job to do."

"What are you talking about?" Knuckles demanded with a frown. "That thing is our biggest threat at the moment."

"Yes, it is." Kitty reiterated. "But we need you to break down that door. How else can we get out of here?"

"But what about Metal Sonic?" Knuckles inquired.

"I'll help Sonic take down Eggman's machine." Kitty explained. "You take care of the door, ok?"

Knuckles at this point looked on with extreme reluctance, as Kitty added while putting a hand on his shoulder, "We're a team, are we not? The only way we're going to get out of here alive is if we work together. And since there's not enough room for all three of us to attack this robot at once, you might as well break down the door in the meantime, especially since you're the strongest one of us."

"Good point." Knuckles muttered with a reluctant sigh.

Kitty then handed him the Chaos Emerald, saying with a slight frown, "Make sure you keep this in your possession this time. This gem almost fell into the wrong hands when you got careless with it."

"Yea, sorry about that." Knuckles replied sheepishly.

After the red echidna firmly grabbed it in his hands, he then ran towards the door, preparing to blast through with it with his fists.

Kitty meanwhile ran the other way, where she soon saw Sonic and his blue robotic imitation duking it out again and again, trading spin dashes.

Even though doing so caused some pain to the blue hedgehog, Sonic dug down deep inside himself, as he knew it was now or never.

Kitty soon got into position to attack, as she pulled out her M32 MGL again and aimed it at Eggman's robot.

However, like before, she couldn't pull the trigger due to Sonic being too close in the blast range.

_Ok, this is going to be tricky. _Kitty thought with a firm look on her face. _I'm going to have to somehow get this bot's attention so Sonic and I can one-two punch it!_

While she watched them duel, an idea then sprung into her head.

_Of course! Why didn't I think of this before?_

Kitty then ran back towards Knuckles, as she saw him winding his fists back again.

Knuckles meanwhile soon turned around distracted, asking a bit perplexed, "Kitty, what are you doing down here?"

"Just getting something to help me out." She replied firmly, grabbing her dented up shield with her right hand.

After she picked it up, Kitty told Knuckles, "Don't stop because of me. Keep punching away. We need you to break down that door."

"Oh yea, sorry about that." Knuckles answered hesitantly. "You just distracted me a bit is all."

Kitty though quickly ran up the stairs without saying another word to him, as Knuckles turned around, saying, "Ok, let's finish this."

Seconds later, Kitty finally was back in position, now clutching the shield with both of her hands.

_Ok, now to use this thing as a decoy._

Kitty then winded her arms back and prepared to heave it at the blue spiky robot.

Unfortunately though, her timing turned out to be a bit off.

A split second before she could toss it, Metal Sonic finally knocked the blue hedgehog backwards, where he soon ricocheted off the wall back first, landing onto the stairs, about a couple below Cream.

Cream during this time looked on with deep fright, as she was very worried about Sonic after he hit the ground.

_Ah, great… _Kitty thought with a groan. _My job just got harder._

Metal Sonic soon found the young rabbit near Sonic and attempted to take both of them out.

Kitty however would not let Eggman's robot harm her friends

Instantly, she tossed her metal shield at the blue spiky robot as hard as she could, hoping to get its attention.

Sure enough, she did, hitting directly in the head.

Unfortunately though, she ended up getting more than she bargained for.

Metal Sonic then charged towards her with fury, quickly curling into a ball to attempt a spin dash.

With Eggman's robot coming after her with great speed, the feline agent only had enough time to jump, as she lept into the air as high as she could, sailing over it completely.

After it missed, Metal Sonic attempted to turn around and attack her again.

However, during its recovery, the blue spiky robot happened to notice the Chaos Emerald in Knuckles' hand while he pounded away at the metal door. In a flash, Metal Sonic changed targets and now went after the red echidna.

Kitty though saw this and quickly reacted, as she pulled out her M249 SAW, shouting to Knuckles after pointing her weapon at it, "Duck, Rad Red!"

Knuckles turned his head immediately after hearing her yell, and there he saw Eggman's robot coming towards him.

Almost simultaneously, Knuckles ducked as Kitty opened fire, spraying laser shots at the blue spiky robot.

Again, Kitty aimed for Metal Sonic's chest, trying to damage its inner core.

But like before, her weapon wasn't able to damage it much. All it could do was slow it down slightly.

That though would end up being better than nothing at all, as the laser shots would give Kitty more time to evade and react.

While this was going on, Cream helped Sonic stand up, who was still feeling the effects from the collision earlier.

Cream then asked softly after helping onto his feet, "Are you ok, Mr. Sonic?"

"Yea…" he groaned a bit loudly. "Don't worry about me."

Moments later, Cream said to him with a whimper, "You have to help Miss Kitty. I'm really worried that Eggman's robot will end up hurting her."

Seeing the fear in her eyes got Sonic's mind back in the game, as he replied firmly, "Don't worry, I won't let metal faker of mine do any harm."

Cream then clutched tightly onto the blue hedgehog, burying her face in his chest.

"Cream, you gotta let go of me." He reiterated. I can't help out like this."

"Sorry." The young rabbit replied, hesitantly letting go. "It's just… I can't handle much more of this. I'm so scared now."

Sonic then put a hand on her shoulder, telling to calm her fears, "Hang tight, Cream. We'll be out of here soon enough."

And with that statement Sonic revved up his legs and charged towards the bottom of the stairs.

Cream meanwhile looked on with little hope, as she didn't know what to expect.

As for Kitty, she and Metal Sonic continued to battle.

Each time, Metal Sonic charged in, trying to hit her with spin dashes, Knuckles' super punch, even her own martial arts kicks.

Kitty though was able to evade all of its attacks, jumping over them, ducking underneath, even back flipping out of harm's way when necessary.

Thankfully for her though, Sonic finally bailed her out, as he came charging in, blindsiding the blue spiky robot while it attempted another roundhouse kick of Kitty's.

Metal Sonic instantly slammed against the left side of the wall, but quickly recovered within several seconds, as it now targeted Sonic again, jumping into the air to try and spin dash him.

Kitty though finally got her chance to attack, as she grabbed her M32 MGL and fired another grenade at its metal chest before it could.

Since Sonic was far enough away, Metal Sonic took the full brunt of the attack, where it again slammed into the wall, this time with a lot more force, soon coming to stop on the ground.

"Nice timing there." Sonic commented.

Before Kitty could reply, Knuckles shouted triumphantly after another strong punch, resulting in a loud thud, "Yes! Ok, guys, let's go. We're in!"

Kitty and Sonic both looked on with glee, with the blue hedgehog shouting while raising a fist in the air, "Cool, let's go!"

"Wait, where's Cream?" Kitty asked, stopping in her tracks after taking a few steps.

Sonic too stopped as well, saying loudly, "C'mon, Cream, we gotta move!"

Cream though answered back, "Wait, what about Miss Rouge?"

"We'll come back for her later." Sonic answered. "Right now, we need to get you to safety."

"No, we can't just leave her behind." Cream protested. "She could be really hurt."

Sonic was about to argue with her again, but Kitty beat him to it, saying, "She has a point. We need to make sure Metal Sonic didn't injure her."

"But Metal Sonic could come to any second now!" Sonic argued. "We need to go."

"It'll only take a minute, Sonic." Kitty replied, running up the stairs. "Besides, you and Knuckles can take care of it should that robot try to attack us again."

Sonic attempted to argue with her again, but since Kitty was already out of sight, he thought better of it.

Kitty meanwhile took Cream by the hand and said, "C'mon, let's go check on her."

Cream nodded her head in agreement, as they both walked towards the metal door up the stairs.

However, before they could peek in the hole, Metal Sonic quickly sprung to after sparking a bit fervently, where it soon stood up on its metal feet.

Since the blue spiky robot was only ten feet away from them, Cream instantly screamed in terror.

Kitty's reaction on the other hand was one of disbelief, as she thought with a frown kicking herself inside, _ah, just my luck… That robot comes after us before we can even get through the metal door._

"Hang on, girls, I'm coming!" Knuckles shouted, running up the stairs.

Sonic also ran up the stairs, as he wasn't about to let Eggman's robot harm either one of them as well.

But before they could get up there, Metal Sonic made the first move.

Kitty meanwhile grabbed her M32 MGL from behind and prepared to fire her second to last grenade.

Unfortunately though, the blue spiky robot came at them so fast with spin dash, Kitty only had enough time to duck.

And so, she did, even using her body to shield Cream from any chance of harm.

Metal Sonic ended up sailing over them completely, soon bouncing off of the metal door behind them.

Moments later, the blue spiky robot quickly changed direction, now attempting to attack them with Kitty's roundhouse kick.

Thankfully though, Sonic finally made up the stairs, as he beat his metal imitator to the punching, slamming against the metal door with his own spin dash attack.

Metal Sonic again bounced off the door, but quickly recovered back on its own feet, where it now charged up a spin dash attack.

But Eggman's robot would not get the chance.

Knuckles soon came running up from behind, shouting, "Out of the way, guys!"

Kitty, along with Sonic and Cream turned around, and there they saw the red echidna winding his right fist back while holding the Chaos Emerald in his left.

The three of them instantly ducked, with Kitty again using her body to shield the young rabbit.

A split second later, Metal Sonic finished charging and went to attack.

Knuckles though was ready for it, as he swung his right fist with all his might towards the blue spiky robot.

At first, their head on collision was a stalemate, thanks to the Chaos Emerald giving Knuckles a boost of strength.

While both of them struggled to get the upper hand, Knuckles shouted again, "Quick, get Cream to the floor below and out of harm's way!"

"Will do." Kitty replied with a nod.

Sonic however took Cream by the hand before she could, saying, "Allow me. I can get her down there faster."

Kitty didn't argue with him, replying, "All right. Go ahead."

Sonic quickly scooped the young rabbit in her arms after saying this and soon ran towards the bottom of the stairs.

While he was doing that, Kitty tried to think of a way to break the stalemated battle between Knuckles and Metal Sonic.

Seconds later, she finally got an idea.

_It'll be very risky attack, but if it works, I know it'll pay dividends. _Kitty thought with a grin.

The feline agent then crawled onto the floor, where she soon crept up from the right side.

Knuckles unfortunately was a bit distracted by her latest move, asking her with a bit of hesitance, "What are you doing?"

Kitty though was able to compensate any chance Metal Sonic had at getting at an advantage, as she again fired another grenade from her M32, hitting the blue spiky robot on the right side near the back of his head, instantly exploding on contact.

Knuckles quickly flinched at the explosion due to being so close to the blast, but thankfully wasn't hit by it.

Metal Sonic on the other hand was knocked towards the left side of the room, where it quickly bounced off of it several times, eventually coming to a stop.

Kitty and Knuckles were even forced to duck due to the blue spiky robot ricocheting more powerfully than expected.

Eventually though, it came to a stop in the right hand corner, now seriously stunned.

Knuckles then put his hands at his waist, demanding with a frown, "Are you crazy, feline? You could've blown my hand off!"

Kitty however didn't respond to this, replying instead, "Quick, smash the robot with your super punch while it's stunned!"

"What?"

"Hurry!" Kitty reiterated. "We don't have much time!"

Knuckles thought about arguing with her about it, but decided to do as she told him.

The red echidna quickly wound his right fist back, and then attacked it with everything he had, hitting Eggman's robot with a devastating uppercut.

Thanks to the Chaos Emerald in his possession, Metal Sonic was sent flying towards the ceiling, where it crashed through violently, now stuck halfway inside of it.

Kitty then looked on impressed, commenting, "Well done, Knuckles. You really hammered that robot of Eggman's."

Knuckles though wasn't in the mood for a compliment, replying with another frown, "You still haven't told me why you fired a grenade with me so close by."

Kitty now looked at him sheepishly, explaining, "Sorry, I didn't know how else to break up your stalemate so you could get an advantage over that robot."

"Why didn't you give me a head's up at least then?" Knuckles demanded.

"Because I knew you would lose your focus." Kitty answered firmly. "Just like you did when you saw me sneaking up from the right side."

"Oh yea.. Good point." Knuckles muttered.

Moments later, Kitty said, "Anyway, let's check on Rouge while Sonic gets Cream to safety."

"Good idea." Knuckles replied.

However, before they could walk towards the door, Sonic whistled to them, saying loudly, "Yo, guys, let's get a move on."

"But what about Rouge?" Kitty argued. "We can't just leave her here in case something went wrong."

"We won't have to." Sonic explained. "The exit's now within our reach."

"What?" Kitty now looked with a smile, asking, "You mean… there's no more doors blocking our path?"

"Yep." Sonic answered. "I saw another door in front of the exit, but it thankfully has a hole big enough for us to climb through."

Little did either of them realize, the last door before the exit had been punched through by Knuckles when trying to get out of Eggman's

Kitty though at this point was still hesitant, saying, "I don't know… I just don't have a good feeling about leaving her now."

"I don't think we have a choice." Knuckles stated, adding his own two cents. "Metal Sonic might come after us again. If we stick around for too long, Cream might get hurt in the process."

Kitty couldn't argue with this, replying, "I guess you got a point there."

Kitty then looked at the red echidna firmly and said, "Ok, how about this then? We'll get Cream to safety while you check on Rouge."

"Are you sure about that?" Knuckles asked skeptical.

Metal Sonic meanwhile was trying to free itself from the ceiling, as Kitty answered, "Yea, I'm sure. Since there are no more metal doors in our path, Sonic and I should be able to handle this no problem."

Knuckles quickly nodded his head in response, saying, "Very well then. Let's do it."

And with that statement, the feline agent ran down with Sonic to help Cream escape.

Knuckles meanwhile peeked into the hole he had made earlier and looked for Rouge. Unfortunately though, he didn't see her anywhere, making him furrow his brow while commenting, "That's odd… I see nothing but a big hole in one of the stair steps. Hmm… I better check this out."

Knuckles then walked towards the hole and prepared to step inside of it.

However, before he could take one step into the next room, he heard a loud crackling sound.

"Huh? What was that?"

The red echidna quickly looked around the room, even looked at the ceiling to see if it was caused by Metal Sonic.

However, Metal Sonic at the time didn't make any moves, thus leading Knuckles to believing it was just his paranoia.

That decision unfortunately would end up costing Knuckles dearly.

A split second, Metal Sonic finally broke free from his ceiling entrapment, where it then spin dashed the red echidna from behind at blistering speeds.

Knuckles sadly never saw it coming, as the blue spiky robot instantly blindsided him, slamming him into the metal door with intensity.

This in turn jarred the Chaos Emerald from his hand, sending it flying into the hole through the door.

Knuckles unfortunately was injured from the collision, as he soon felt a lot of pain in his left shoulder.

On top of that, he fell to the ground in a heap, now completely vulnerable to the blue spiky robot.

Kitty fortunately happened to hear the loud sounds from above while heading down the stairs, making her run back to see what had happened.

"Where are you going?" Sonic demanded after seeing her turn back.

"I have to check on Knuckles." Kitty explained in a panic. "He may be seriously hurt."

While she ran up the stairs, Sonic thought with a sigh, _Yea, I think it's safe to say she likes that Knucklehead a lot._

Moments later, Sonic heard another loud banging, this time coming from the door leading downstairs.

_What's that sound coming from? _Sonic thought perplexed.

Sonic though soon learned who was causing it, as he heard a familiar voice say, "This blasted door! Why can't I break it down?"

"Amy?"

Sonic then ran towards the door, shouting, "Amy, is that you?"

The blue hedgehog instantly discovered it was, as she replied almost frantically, "Sonic, help me! I can't get out!"

"Hang on, Amy." Sonic told her. "I'll see if I can cut my way through."

While this was going on, Kitty finally arrived on the scene, where she soon saw Metal Sonic towering over the red echidna, thinking with a gasp, _I don't believe this… It got out of there that easily?_

Thankfully for Knuckles though, Kitty pulled out her M249 SAW and fired several dozen shots.

While Kitty knew it wouldn't damage Eggman's robot, she had figured out by now it would follow her if she attacked.

Sure enough, it did, as the blue spiky robot instantly charged after the feline agent.

_Good. _Kitty thought with relief. _At least this should buy Knuckles sometime to get back on his feet._

Kitty then added with a bit of fear, _I hope…_

Seconds later, Metal Sonic soon closed in a hurry, now attempting another spin dash from behind.

Kitty though was ready for Eggman's secret weapon, as she grabbed her MGL from behind and quickly fired her last grenade at it.

Thankfully, her accuracy was right on the money, as the grenade exploded with fury, knocking Metal Sonic backwards, again stunned.

Kitty now ran as fast as she could, soon shouting once arriving near the exit, "We gotta move, now! Metal Sonic will soon be on our tails!"

"What?" Sonic looked on dumbfounded, demanding, "Are you telling me that thing is still operational?"

"Yes, it is." Kitty answered. "It even injured Knuckles."

Sonic soon let out a sigh, muttering, "Man, this mission just keeps getting weirder and weirder."

"Never mind that." Kitty reiterated. "Let's go. We'll come back for Knuckles after Cream is safe."

"We can't leave now." Sonic argued. "Amy is trapped behind that door."

"What, are you sure?" Kitty inquired.

Amy than banged her hammer against the metal door, making Sonic reply with arched eyebrows, "Do ducks fly?"

Kitty now sighed in frustration, saying, "Great, I guess I know what my last RPG will be used on now."

While Kitty technically still had an C4 explosive left in her weapons bag, she knew there was no time to set it up and use it instead.

After the feline agent grabbed her RPG-7, she told Sonic, "keep an eye on the door for me in the meantime, ok?"

"No prob." Sonic answered.

While Kitty walked toward the door, Amy then shouted again, "Hurry, help me out of here!"

"Keep your shirt on, Amy." Kitty replied. "You'll be out soon enough."

Before she fired, Kitty instructed of the pink hedgehog, "Stand back, I'll be using a warhead to blast down the door."

Amy did as she was told, soon taking a dozen step backs.

Just then, Metal Sonic finally came charging through, making Cream gasp in a deep panic, running over to the feline agent for protection.

Kitty soon saw Eggman's robot herself, saying to Sonic, "Quick, keep it busy until I get Amy free."

"I'm two steps ahead of you." Sonic answered with a look of grit on his face.

Sonic then instantly charged towards the blue spiky robot, saying with resolve, "No way you're getting past me this time."

In spite of his pain, the blue hedgehog again buckled down, as he was determined to not this robot hurt his friends.

While he fought with Metal Sonic, Kitty pulled the trigger, aiming her warhead at the dents made in the metal door made by Amy earlier.

Within seconds, it exploded on contact, blasting a moderate sized crevice into the door.

However, the crevice was still very deformed, thus make it difficult for Amy to crawl through.

Kitty then told her, "Quick, use her hammer to widen the crack."

Amy did as she told, as she again and again beat on the cracks in the door.

Within three swings, the pink hedgehog finally beat it back enough for her to climb through.

Kitty meanwhile ran towards the door and helped pull Amy through it.

At first, Amy wasn't too thrilled with her assistance, stating, "I could have gotten through myself, you know?"

Kitty gave her a scolding look, replying, "This is no time for pride. We've got to work together in order to get out of here unscathed.

Amy knew she was right, saying with her down, "You're right. Let's go help my Sonikku."

Sonic thankfully wouldn't need any help this time, as he used his courage and hidden strength to outwit and slam the blue spiky robot against the wall with speed and power, again seriously stunning it.

Even Kitty was astonished by this feat of his, asking, "Whoa, how did you get the upper hand so easily?"

Sonic then flashed her a sly grin, replying, "Hey, when the chips are down, I always find a way to come through in the clutch."

"I see…"

While Kitty looked on impressed, Amy on the other hand glanced at Sonic's robotic imitator asked with curiosity, "What is that thing anyway?"

"Eggman's secret weapon." Kitty explained sullen. "That robot's been trying to kill us ever since we ran into it."

"Really?"

Amy then walked over to it with her Piko Hammer, at about the exact same Metal Sonic tried to clear its head of the effects from before and stand up.

Amy though wasn't about to let that happen, stating loudly while wielding her Piko Hammer up high, "Oh no, you don't, you sick Sonic robot! Take this!"

The pink hedgehog then smacked it on its metal head five times; denting it in, as well as making it spark all over.

By this time, Metal Sonic tried hard to move again, but the excessive damage to its metal body was making that more and more difficult.

Sonic now looked on a bit impressed at her efforts, saying to Amy sheepishly, "Uh, nice job there."

To no one's surprise, Amy again squealed softly with delight, where she then ran over to Sonic and hugged him tightly, asking, "You really think so?"

Deciding to not upset her, Sonic replied with awkwardness, "Err… yea, sure…"

Amy then gave him a kiss on his right cheek, making the blue hedgehog blush deeply, as she now said to him while looking Sonic in the eye flirtatiously, "I'm so happy you think so, Sonikku."

Kitty though broke up their tender moment, saying a bit firmly, "Alright, guys, you two lovebirds can hug and kiss later. Right now, we need to get Cream out of here."

Sonic, now deeply relieved inside by Kitty's interruption, said after Amy let go of him while frowning profusely at the feline agent, "Right, let's get a move on."

Moments later, Kitty said, "Anyway, let me get in touch Tails first so he can be in position to fly us out of here."

"Sounds good to me." Sonic replied.

While Kitty made the call, Amy said to Sonic, "I'm so sorry I couldn't help you out until now. Eggman cut the hook shot rope and I had to find another way inside."

Sonic surprisingly wasn't that upset about it though, but responded nonetheless to be polite, "Ah, don't worry about it too much. I'm just glad you weren't hurt by any of Eggman's junk bots while by yourself."

Amy again hugged him in response to this while smiling, making the blue hedgehog blush heavily a second time.

Two seconds later, Sonic said to her, "Amy?"

"Yes, my love?"

"Remember when I said you would need to let our friendship grow naturally in order for us to become closer?"

"Yea… what about it?"

"Well, you smothering me is hindering that progress now." Sonic explained. "No Offense."

Wanting to please her hero, Amy let go of him sheepishly, replying, "Oh, sorry, Sonic."

"It's cool. Don't worry about it." Sonic told her.

"It's just after not seeing you for a while," Amy explained, "I was so worried Eggman might have seriously injured again."

Sonic by this point understood completely, replying to her with a slight nod and smile, "Thanks."

Before Amy could give him anymore of her affection, Kitty finally spoke up, saying, "Ok, guys, Tails will be on the island in less than two minutes. Let's get going."

"Cool." Sonic said. "I've had enough of looking at Eggbelly's base anyway."

Cream meanwhile spoke up as well, saying, "Wait, what about Knuckles and Rouge?"

Kitty then walked over to her, replying while putting a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry. As soon as you're on shore, we'll come back for them."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Cream asked, still worried.

Kitty now looked the young rabbit in eye, answering, "Trust me. I'll do all I can to get them out of here. But right now, with you being the most vulnerable, we need to get you out first."

Cream couldn't argue with that, as she said softly, "Well, ok then."

While they walked towards the exit, Sonic asked Kitty, "Just curious, how are you going to get back in there with your hook shot rope cut?"

"Simple." The feline agent explained. "I have Topaz's in my weapons bag. Once I get Cream to safety, I'll use it to get back inside.

"What about this junk bot of Eggman's though?" Sonic inquired with arched eyebrows. "Somebody has to keep an eye out in case it comes after us again."

Ironically, Metal Sonic was starting to come to, as Kitty told him, "I know, that's why I'm going to leave you and Amy in charge of watching that bot. If it tries anything else, smash it to pieces."

"Good enough for me." Sonic replied with a thumbs up.

Even Amy was content with this task, as she clutched her Piko Hammer, saying as well, "That robot is history if it dares to attack my Sonikku again."

After that was taken care of, Kitty waited until she saw Tails' X-Tornado come to shore. She even saw a G.U.N Chopper nearby as well when it did land, making her think, _that's odd… I thought Eggman crippled all of the G.U.N vehicles with that EMP blast. Oh well, I guess one was able to escape harm._

Kitty then turned to Cream and said, "Let's go. Our ride is here."

Cream nodded her head in response, walking towards the feline agent, where Kitty then picked her up in her arms and walked towards the exit, the same exit that's door was blasted down in order to get inside.

Once they stood at the edge, Cream asked with concern on her face, "How are we going to get down?"

"Tails is going to fly up and carry you to the ground below." Kitty explained. "As for me, well… I'll have to use the base's wall and slide down it."

"Won't that be dangerous?" Cream inquired.

"Yea, but I can handle it." Kitty said, reassuring her. "Don't worry about me."

Seconds later, Kitty saw Tails flying towards them, making her say, "Here he comes."

Cream soon saw him herself, as Kitty added to soothe her fears, "You can relax now, sweetie. Soon, you and the rest of us will off this awful island and back home safe, where Eggman will then be punished appropriately."

Cream didn't say anything in response, but instead nodded her head slightly. Tears of relief soon filled her eyes, as this whole experience had been very traumatizing for her.

While they waited, Amy walked towards them, where she was about to give a proper goodbye to her best friend before leaving.

Unfortunately for her, that would not happen.

Before she could walk halfway, Metal Sonic now stood up and targeted the pink hedgehog, as it would now retaliate for the abuse she had given it earlier.

Sonic, who had been standing nearby, saw Metal Sonic abruptly stand up, making him gasp in deep horror. He knew by the direction it was looking in who its primary target was.

It was all like slow motion to him, as he saw the blue spiky robot blast towards Amy with fury.

Sonic then shouted while running towards her in a panic, "Amy, watch out!"

Due to her being preoccupied, Amy never saw it coming.

Sonic though came to her aid, as he lunged himself in front of her to protect her.

This move on his part however would cost him dearly, as he took the full brunt of Metal Sonic's spin dash.

Kitty and Cream meanwhile could barely turn their heads around, where they soon saw the blue hedgehog slammed into the wall on the left side violently.

Almost simultaneously, Kitty, along with Cream looked on in deep horror, as they heard Amy shout in a panic, "Sonikku!"

Sonic by this time could no longer stand on his two feet, as the shot he took to the gut had been very strong. To make matters worse, his chest wound had reopened completely. In fact, it had been cut even a bit more as result of this attack.

After bouncing off of the blue hedgehog, Metal Sonic grabbed tightly Sonic by the throat, as it now pressed its metal hand against his neck to try and break it, as well as cut off his air supply.

Amy though wasn't about to let Eggman's robot do that.

In a flash, Amy's facial expressions changed from fear to complete rage.

She then charged towards the blue spiky robot and wound her arms back as far as they would go.

Then, in one split second, the pink hedgehog blindsided Eggman's robot from behind, hitting it directly underneath its chin, sending it flying across the room. Since Amy had attacked so quickly, Metal Sonic had no chance to counter it.

While Amy rained her Piko Hammer of fury against Metal Sonic, Kitty and Cream instantly ran to Sonic's aide, where they saw the extensiveness of his wound.

Seeing it bleeding even worse than at the Thorndyke mansion, Kitty's eyes began to well up, as she knew it was very serious.

Even Cream began to sob inside as well.

Kitty then asked with a lump in her throat, even though she knew it was a foolish question, "Sonic, are you ok?"

Sonic though didn't answer her. By this time was barely conscious, as he was losing a lot of blood and fast.

Cream soon spoke up, saying with a whimper, while again trying to press the bottom of her dress against the wound on her knees, "Please don't die, Mr. Sonic. You can't die now. We need you."

Sonic now responded to her cries, saying weakly, "I'll be all right, Cream. Don't worry about me."

Tails meanwhile finally flew inside the room, saying, "Ok, Cream, let's…"

Once he saw Sonic though, he lost his train of thought, saying completely horrified, "No… Sonic."

The two tailed fox's eyes also began to well up, as he too was deeply scared for his best friend's well-being.

Kitty then did something that would be very hard for her. She quickly picked up Cream in her arms away from Sonic and handed her over to Tails, saying, "Get her to safety, Tails."

"But Sonic…"

"I'll take care of Sonic." Kitty explained, trying not to break down in front of them. "Just please hurry."

Tails though didn't move at first, which prompted the feline agent to say after a few seconds, now no longer being able to hold back the tears in her own eyes, "I know this is very hard for you, but I need you to get Cream to safety."

By this time, Tails complied, though with extreme reluctance.

When the tailed fox began to take off, Cream wailed loudly in his arms, while extending her own towards Sonic, "No, I don't want to go! Please put me down!"

Cream unfortunately wouldn't get her wish, as Tails escorted her out of the base.

Kitty then heard her cries even louder one outside, making the feline agent lower her head in sorrow.

As for Amy, she has gone absolutely ballistic against Eggman's robot, as she hit with her hammer over two dozen times, where it soon was sent flying towards the hole she had previously crawled through, slamming against a wall inside of it, coming to stop with a huge thud.

"YOU METAL MONSTER!" Amy roared, now gasping for air. "I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!"

Amy at that moment was about to crawl inside the hole and pound the blue spiky robot some more, when Kitty finally intervened, saying loudly, "Amy, that's enough!"

"Don't you dare to try and stop me!" Amy lashed out, glaring at Kitty. "I'm going to smash that robot up good for this!"

"I'm pretty sure you totaled it by now." Kitty reiterated. "But Sonic needs our help right now."

Hearing his name finally snapped the pink hedgehog to attention, as she quickly walked over and saw her true love fighting for his life.

Amy then knelt down at his right side, where she clutched his right hand tightly, now trying to keep herself from crying uncontrollably.

Sonic meanwhile finally noticed her next to him, saying weakly, "Hey… Amy."

"Why did you do it, Sonikku?" Amy asked, still trying to compose herself. "Why did you risk your life when you're already still recovering from other serious injuries?"

"Because…" Sonic replied softly. "I didn't want you to get hurt. I care about you."

"You… do?" Amy at this point could not hold back the tears, as they began to flood her eyes.

"Of course I do." Sonic reiterated. "You are my friend after all."

Amy now couldn't speak, as she was deeply touched by his words.

She then said after a long pause with a sniffle, "You should have let me handle that robot myself. I could have trashed it my Piko Hammer, you know?"

"Maybe…" Sonic replied with hesitance. "But… since it was coming after you so fast, I feared you would have been gravely injured from the collision."

Amy though told him sullenly in response without a bit of hesitation, "Sonic, I didn't want my life spared at the expense of yours. I… don't want to live without you."

Sonic then placed his left hand on her right one, saying to try and soothe her fears, "I'll be ok. I am one tough hedgehog after all."

"Yea, I know…" Amy answered him, flashing a slight smile.

Unfortunately though, the pink hedgehog knew no amount of toughness would be able to overcome this situation. She saw Sonic was fading, and fast.

Moments later, Sonic had Amy lean in, where he said to her, "Anyway, no matter what happens, just know… you'll always be a special friend to me."

"Do really mean that, Sonikku?" Amy asked, trying hard to now break down in front of him.

"Indeed I do." Sonic answered. He then added, now breathing heavier, "In fact I… think you're… one way past cool hedgehog."

Amy at this point couldn't help but smile at his words, even though she was still sobbing a bit inside.

Moments later, Sonic finally laid his head down and closed his eyes.

Amy instantly reacted, saying while nudging his right shoulder a bit, "Sonic? Sonic!"

Kitty then checked his right wrist for a pulse, saying with a sigh of relief, "He's still alive, Amy. He just lost consciousness."

When Amy heard that, she felt relieved inside as well, but still very worried about her True Blue.

Kitty quickly stood up afterwards, saying to Amy, "Stay here. I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" Amy asked puzzled.

"I have to make sure Knuckles is ok." Kitty explained, slowly walking towards the upper stairs. "He could've been seriously hurt by Metal Sonic as well."

Amy was a bit perplexed by the way she had worded that, but soon let it go, as Sonic was her main concern now.

Kitty meanwhile ran up the stairs to the floor where Knuckles had been previously. Once there, she saw him now standing up, clutching his left shoulder tightly while wincing.

Kitty then ran up to him, asking with concern, "Knuckles, are you ok?"

"Yea, don't worry about me." He replied with a groan. "It's just my shoulder."

"What happened exactly?" Kitty inquired.

Knuckles now let out a groan of frustration, saying, "Ah, that blasted Metal Sonic… he blindsided me when I peeked in the door to locate Rouge."

"Did you see her?" Kitty asked.

"No, I didn't." Knuckles answered, shaking his head. "Before I could take one step in the other room, I was hit."

Seeing the pain he was in, Kitty said to him, "Stay here. I'll go check on her."

Kitty then crawled into the next room, where she walked up the stairs, looking everywhere for Rouge.

Unfortunately though, the only thing she saw was blood on some of the steps and the E-102 robot currently out of commission.

Seeing the blood made Kitty gasp, as she wondered what had happened to the female bat.

Kitty even walked towards the hole in the wall Rouge had made earlier and looked outside to see if she was somewhere on the island.

Unfortunately though, there was no sign of her anywhere.

_That is so odd… _Kitty thought, rubbing her chin. _How come Rouge just disappeared?_

In any other circumstances, the feline agent would have looked for her further, but with Sonic unconscious at the moment and needing immediate medical attention, she headed back towards Knuckles, where he immediately asked, "Did you find her?"

Kitty shook her head, replying, "No, all I saw was a busted up robot and some blood on the stairs."

Hearing the blood part concerned Knuckles, as he asked, "Was there a lot of it?"

"Well, not exactly, but it wasn't exactly a little either." Kitty explained.

Knuckles now put a hand under his chin to think, saying, "Hmm… well, if Rouge had been killed, there would have been a lot more. So, I guess we can assume she's still alive."

"Yes, but where did she go?" Kitty asked. "I mean, it was so unlike her to leave after going all to the trouble of holding Metal Sonic back for us."

Knuckles again was in deep thought, when Kitty finally spoke up again and said, "Anyway, we'll look for her later. Right now, we need to help Sonic get out of the base right away and get him some help."

"Why?" Knuckles asked. "What happened to him?"

Kitty at first didn't answer him, as she instead lowered her head in sadness.

"Is he that seriously hurt?" the red echidna inquired further.

"I'm afraid so." Kitty replied.

Knuckles then ran towards the bottom of stairs, where he was now very worried inside for the blue hedgehog.

A bout a minute earlier, Eggman saw the X-Tornado and the G.U.N chopper heading for his island.

He then unwisely tried to take them out with his remaining missile launchers when they got close.

Unfortunately for him though, Tails easily wiped them out within a span of twenty seconds.

With no more launchers left to work with, the mad doctor realized it was now futile to try and stop them.

So, he said with a heavy sigh in frustration, "Well, as the old saying says… he who fights and runs away, live to fight another day."

Not wanting to risk getting caught or blasted by a missile, Eggman activated the secret elevator within his base, where he now headed towards the bottom of his base and prepare to make his getaway.

However, unknown to him, a familiar bat had seen him trying to flee and instantly chased after him, soon using the same elevator herself.

Thanks to watching him closely, she had seen what buttons he had pressed to activate this elevator, where she soon went down it herself.

Before she did though, Rouge dug the Chaos Emerald she had inadvertently been given by Gamma and looked at intently, thinking with a sigh, _I have no idea how that E-series robot was able to function at all, being so heavily damaged and all... But… I owe it big time._

Rouge, even at this point, still felt very lightheaded and a bit weak inside from her wound on her forehead.

Nevertheless, she was determined to punish Eggman for all he had done to her and Topaz.

She then thought to herself while pressing the button, _Eggman, you will not get away. I will personally end your reign of terror this very hour._

And with that thought, she headed down the elevator.

Meanwhile, Knuckles finally saw his condition, where he too gasped in disbelief, saying, "No… it can't be! Who did this to him?"

"Metal Sonic…" Amy replied angrily with tears still in her eyes.

Kitty meanwhile finally caught to him, asking the pink hedgehog, "Any updates?"

"No." Amy answered somberly, shaking her head. "He's still unconscious." She then asked them, "Did you find Rouge?"

Kitty shook her head, replying, "No. She appears to have disappeared."

Before she could think this over, Kitty said, "Anyway, let's get Sonic out of here. Time is not on his side."

Everyone in the room nodded theirs head, as the feline agent soon looked outside again and saw Cream was now safely in the G.U.N Chopper, waiting for the others to arrive.

Kitty then turned around and asked Knuckles, "You got any ideas on how to get down safely?"

Knuckles again put a hand under his chin to think, soon saying, "Well, I can think of one way, but I don't know if I can do it successfully."

"What is it?" Amy asked curiously.

"Well, I might be able to use my one of my fists to slide down while carrying one of you in the other." Knuckles suggested. "Although, I don't know if I can without the pain in my shoulder becoming too much for me."

While Kitty didn't want to risk injuring his shoulder further, "she replied, "I guess we could give it a try at least. I mean, if the pain becomes too much, you can slide down alone."

"True…" Knuckles said.

Moments later, he stated, "Anyway, I think I should carry Sonic down since he needs to be…"

"No!" Amy shouted in protest. "You can't! You might seriously hurt him on the way down."

Knuckles was about to argue with her, when Kitty spoke up, saying, "I think she has a point here."

"What?" Knuckles argued. "Who else is going to help him down?"

"I'll do it." Amy answered almost instantly after he asked that.

"Are you crazy?" the red echidna demanded. "You'll hurt Sonic trying to get him down. At least I'm strong enough to hold him securely."

"With your bad shoulder?" Amy countered. "Forget it! You're more likely to drop him than I would!"

Knuckles again tried to argue with her, when Kitty stopped it a second time, saying to him, "Knuckles, let her do this."

"But why?" Knuckles asked confused.

"Because…" Kitty replied, now looking at Amy intently. "She cares deeply for him."

"I know that, but we do too." Knuckles argued.

"Not like her." Kitty explained, shaking her head. "She doesn't just love him like a girl with a big crush. No… she really cares deeply for Sonic with every fiber of her being."

Knuckles was fully aware of Amy's love for Sonic, as Kitty added a split second later, "She needs to do this in order to feel she did all she could to save his life."

Knuckles soon glanced over and saw the pink hedgehog clutching him tightly with both of her hands, also trying to stop the bleeding in his chest with her red dress.

At this point, the red echidna finally conceded, saying with a sigh, "Well, ok then…"

He then after another pause, "I just hope she doesn't end up making his injuries worse when trying to get him down."

Amy instantly shot Knuckles a dirty look, as Kitty replied, "I trust Amy. I know she will do everything she can to make his ride down as soft as possible."

Amy now looked over at Kitty, as the feline agent gave her nod of approval, making the pink hedgehog smile slightly at her.

Knuckles soon sighed again, saying to the feline agent, "Well, I guess that means I'll be carrying you down then. You ready to go?"

Kitty quickly nodded her head in response, answering, "Yep. Let's go."

Before she walked over to Knuckles though, Kitty said to Amy, "Anyway, in case you need help getting him down, Knuckles and I will catch you in our arms."

"What?" Knuckles soon glanced over at Kitty, saying, "Have you forgotten my painful shoulder already? I don't think I can handle that much weight."

"We need to at least try." Kitty reiterated firmly. She then added after a long pause, "For Sonic's sake if nothing else.

Knuckles couldn't argue with that, so he said shaking his head with a groan, "Very well then."

Moments later, the red echidna walked over and gently grabbed Kitty by her shoulders, soon securing her in his arms.

To say the least, Kitty couldn't help but blush a little bit inside, as she had wondered before what it be like for him to hold her.

"Is your shoulder holding up so far?" Kitty asked.

"Yea, it hurts a little, but I'll manage." Knuckles replied, trying to tough it out.

After he said this, the red echidna quickly walked towards the edge and jumped.

Kitty of course was taken a bit surprise by this, as she could only hope Knuckles would get them down safely.

Fortunately, he did, as Knuckles used his right arm to hold Kitty tightly while using his left arm and foot to slowly slide down the base wall.

Within ten seconds, they had arrived at the bottom, where Knuckles then let go of Kitty.

Once she was on the ground, Kitty said to him with a slight smile, "Thanks. You did well for someone with a banged up shoulder."

Knuckles didn't say anything to her, but gave her a nod in response.

Kitty then shouted towards the top a second later, "Ok, Amy, come on down. We'll catch you."

Amy soon walked towards the edge, now carrying Sonic firmly in her arms.

At first, she felt very nervous due to being so high up, but decided to bite the bullet and go for it.

She then said to Sonic while looking at him with love in her eyes, "Hang on, Sonikku. You'll be getting help before you know it."

After saying this, Amy slowly walked back a few steps, taking a deep breath, where she then jumped out, holding onto her True Blue as tightly as she could.

On the way down, Amy tried to use the base wall to slide down to slow her descent, even using her left arm to steady her descent, like Knuckles had done.

Unfortunately though, the pink hedgehog was unable to slide for long, as she almost dropped Sonic in the process with her right arm.

Amy thankfully recovered in time to grab the blue hedgehog again with both hands about halfway down, but any chance of descending slowly now was history.

"Here she comes." Kitty told Knuckles. "Get ready."

Knuckles did indeed get ready, though still felt very hesitant about the aftermath of this.

Three seconds later, Amy finally hit their arms, as they fortunately cushioned her fall enough that it didn't injure Sonic further.

Knuckles though wasn't as lucky, as immediately after Amy bounced off of their arms, he clutched his left shoulder, letting out a loud yelp in pain.

"Knuckles, are you ok?" Kitty replied walked over to him.

Knuckles immediately shook his head, replying with a groan, "Ah, man, that really hurt."

Kitty by now felt a bit guilty for asking him to catch Amy with her, saying, "I guess it wasn't such a good idea after all."

"Don't be silly." Knuckles surprisingly replied. "We got Sonic down safely. That's the important thing."

"But your shoulder…"

"Ah, I'll live." Knuckles told her, trying to act tough. "Don't worry about me."

Moments later, Kitty turned her head to the left, and there she saw her G.U.N comrades, along with Tails up ahead.

She and the others then ran towards them, as Commander Towers was the first one to greet them, saying to Kitty with a firm look on his face, "Well, Agent Katswell, it looks like you came through better than I thought you would. Impressive."

Kitty though was very modest about her praise, replying, "Thank you, sir. Anyway, we need to get Sonic and Knuckles to the medical team right away for treatment."

"Ah, yes, of course…"

Commander Towers then order his medical crew to attend to them right way, especially Sonic, since he was the most seriously injured. By this time, Amy thankfully had gotten most of the bleeding stopped.

Nevertheless, Sonic still remained unconscious, which deeply concerned his friends.

Within seconds, the medical crew onboard the chopper escorted Amy and Knuckles onto the chopper, as Amy was still holding Sonic in his arms at this point.

Once they were onboard, Kitty soon climbed aboard the chopper herself, where G.U.N Commander said loudly, "All right, everyone… we need to clear this area ASAP. Missiles from the G.U.N silos near Central City will be coming here to blast Eggman's base very shortly.

Thanks to the two tailed fox computer expertise, they had been able to access the missile system, where the launch command would be activated within five minutes.

Kitty then spoke up, saying, "Wait, sir, what about Rouge?"

"What about her?" Commander Towers asked a bit gruffly.

"Well, did she make it out of the base safely?" the feline inquired.

"Why do you even care?" the G.U.N Commander retorted. "She betrayed us. As far as I'm concerned, she's on her own."

"But sir, she helped us escape the base." Kitty argued. "Rouge came back and had a change of heart afterwards. She even freed Cream from Eggman's prison."

"Is that a fact?" Commander Towers inquired with arched eyebrows.

"I wouldn't lie to you about that, sir." Kitty answered. "I know she betrayed us at first, but I saw her with my own eyes turn around and help us."

Commander Towers then turned around and asked Sonic's friends, "Is what Agent Katswell saying true?"

Unfortunately for Kitty, most of them could not confirm this, since only Cream had witnessed seen the betrayal first hand.

Cream though spoke up anyway, saying, "It's true, Mr. Towers. Rouge helped me and Miss Kitty so we could escape from the base."

Needless to say, the G.U.N Commander was not willing to buy Rouge's change of heart story by the young rabbit alone, soon replying, "I'm sorry, but until evidence proves otherwise, Rouge is still labeled a traitor in my opinion."

"But Commander…"

My decision is final." Commander Towers reiterated interrupting. "Now then, we need to go now. Those missiles will be coming here in less than five minutes."

"You're actually going to let those missiles kill her?" Kitty protested in disbelief. "How can you do such a thing?"

"Agent Katswell, you really are testing my patience." The G.U.N Commander stated with a frown. "Now if Rouge hadn't betrayed us, I might be willing to halt the attack for a bit. But since she did, I will blast Eggman and his base to bits, whether she's in there or not."

"Sir, do you really want to answer for Rouge's death should you be mistaken about this?" Kitty argued. "If it turns out we were right, you're going to look really bad in front of the troops and the President for that matter. Is that what you want?"

While Commander Towers was angry at her stubbornness, he couldn't ignore her reasoning, saying with a growl, "Very well then. I'll have the launch set back another five minutes, but that's all. Do not test my patience any further, you hear me?"

Deep down, Kitty knew this wasn't enough time, but decided to not push her luck.

She then thought with concern, _Rouge probably did get out of there safely since she couldn't go upward due to the sealed metal doors, but a part of me can't help but think she's still in there somewhere._

After a brief pause, she added sighing,_ I so hope I'm wrong about this…_

Seconds later, Commander Towers finally got everyone on board the Chopper, where the feline agent soon asked him, "How did you get this to fly after Eggman's EMP blast?"

The G.U.N Commander shrugged his shoulders, replying, "We just got lucky basically. This chopper was only one on our navy ships that's computer system wasn't entirely crippled by Eggman's attack."

"What do you mean?" Kitty inquired further.

"In others words, its GPS and most of the electronic aids are shut down." Commander Towers reiterated. "We'll basically be flying home without any flight instruments."

"I see…"

Since it was a clear and sunny day, having to fly back home wouldn't be too difficult of a task to accomplish.

Moments later, Kitty said to Tails while in his X-Tornado, "Ready to go?"

Tails nodded his head, though still was very shaken up about Sonic's condition, soon asking with a whimper, "Sonic's going to be ok, right?"

Not wanting to upset him further, Kitty answered with a half truth, "I think so, but we won't know for sure until we get him to a hospital."

Tails couldn't argue with that, as Kitty added, "Anyway, let's get moving before we get caught in the missiles' blast range."

Tails quickly nodded his head in agreement, as said to Kitty softly, "I sure you wish you were flying back with me. I really need someone to talk to now."

While Kitty knew that statement had a double meaning to it, she understood his main reason, so she replied, "We'll talk soon enough, Tails. Right now, my priority with G.U.N supersedes that at the moment unfortunately."

"Yea, I figured that…" Tails muttered with a sigh. He then added, "I guess it was pointless of me to replace the seat Amy used to eject earlier."

"You don't know that for sure." Kitty told him. "Maybe it'll come in handy later."

"I doubt it…" Tails said. "Anyway, see you later, Kitty."

After saying this, the two tailed fox finally closed the canopy on his X-Tornado and ignited the engines.

The G.U.N Chopper soon did the same, as its blades began to rotate fervently.

Within seconds, both vehicles took off into the air from the island, now heading back toward the navy ships.

On the way there, Kitty thought with a sigh while looking out, _the war's finally over… Eggman will soon be toast and peace will be restored._

She then added after another pause, _Still… it would have been nice if I could have delivered the final blow myself for the sake of my new friends. After all the chaos he's brought upon them, I want to personally be the one who renders justice to that madman._

Kitty knew deep down this thinking of her was a selfish her part, but nonetheless couldn't help but want to be the main instrument in taking Eggman down for good.

A few seconds later, she looked back inside the G.U.N chopper, where the medical crew did all they could to stabilize Sonic.

Fortunately for the blue hedgehog, they were able to do that, but another problem soon popped up.

"This isn't good." A medical crew member stated. "The bleeding has stopped, but he's getting weaker."

Amy instantly gasped in horror, saying, "What? What do you mean he's getting weaker?"

"It means, Miss." He replied. "He's going to need a blood transfusion since he's lost a lot of blood from before. Not to mention his wound is deeply infected.

"Well, get him one then." Amy told them firmly.

"I'm afraid it isn't that simple." Another medical crew member explained. "You see… we don't have the equipment onboard to test his blood type."

This statement instantly drove a knife into the pink hedgehog's heart, as she asked with a sob, "Are you trying to tell me he's going to die?"

"Unless we can him a transfusion and soon, then I have to say yes." He replied bluntly.

Hearing this instantly flooded Amy's eyes again with her own tears, saying with a whimper, "No… he can't die. He just can't…

"Miss, calm down." The first medical worker told her. "We'll do all we can for him in the meantime."

"How soon until we get there?" Amy asked.

"Well, it'll be at least a good half an hour or so," he explained. "Depending on how soon we can transport him inside."

"But… it might be too late by then." Amy protested.

"I'm afraid it's the best we can do, Miss." The second worker replied. "Just don't lose hope. His vital signs are at least still decent at the moment."

Amy though was anything but hopeful, as she couldn't help but wonder if Sonic would not be saved in time.

While this was going on, Kitty looked outside the chopper again, and there she saw the remaining G.U.N soldiers boarding submarines that had arrived, as they were unfortunately the only other means of transportation after the EMP blast.

Soon, just about solider and member of the G.U.N team, including Topaz, was safely off the ships and now heading for home.

A minute after that was done; Kitty and the others finally heard the missiles coming towards them.

As Commander Towers had promised, the missiles fired after another five minutes in order to give Rouge more time to escape.

Not even thirty seconds later, the missiles finally screamed by them from above, as three of them soon were now headed straight for Eggman's base.

Kitty watched them pass by in complete silence while sticking her head out the chopper, as she wanted to see firsthand of Eggman's base being blasted to bits.

Even Amy and Cream happened to look out chopper as well from where they were sitting, watching this moment in eager anticipation.

Tails also watched this intently while piloting his X-Tornado.

Finally, after another twenty five seconds had passed, the three huge G.U.N missiles made contact with Eggman's base, hitting it in the top, middle and bottom part of the structure.

Within seconds, a huge explosion, as debris from the base went flying everywhere, including huge fireball erupted with a big cloud of smoke covered the island. Even the stranded G.U.N ships about five hundred yards were rocked a bit by the blast.

Kitty watched the blast intently, looking at it with a firm expression on her face. Tails, Amy and Cream's expression on the other hand was one of awe and amazement.

Ten seconds later, the fireball and smoke eventually began to die down, as they all saw the aftermath of the base. The entire structure had been reduced to a big pile of rubble.

Seeing the aftermath from the blast left the feline agent with a look of complete satisfaction on her face.

_It's done… _She thought with a sigh of relief. _Finally,_ _that mad man is no more._

Tails reaction was pretty much the same, as he too sighed a huge sigh of relief.

Amy and Cream's on the other hand were one of tears, as this whole journey for them had been nothing short of horrific.

With Eggman's base officially destroyed, Kitty turned back to check on Sonic's condition.

Like before, there was little change.

"How much further until we get to the hospital?" Kitty heard Amy ask a medical worker next to her.

"Miss, we're still a good twenty five minutes away at least." He replied. "Be patient."

"How can I be, when my love's life is in jeopardy?" Amy countered somberly.

"Miss, please, don't get so worked up." The same worker told her. "You'll only make yourself sick inside."

"That's easy for you to say." Amy countered. "It's not the one you love most that's in this condition."

After hearing that, the medical worker replied with a bit of guilt on his face, "Sorry, I didn't meant to be inconsiderate."

Amy softened up a bit, as the worker added, "as we said earlier, we'll do all we can to see to it that he is properly cared for, ok?"

By this time, the pink hedgehog decided to trust them on this, though still was very, very worried inside.

Two minutes later, Kitty finally looked outside the chopper again, this time with a pair of binoculars, as she hoped to catch a glimpse of Rouge somewhere near the island or even on one of the stranded G.U.N navy ships.

Unfortunately, she saw so no sign of the female bat whatsoever. Rouge for some reason had mysteriously disappeared.

_I just don't understand what happened to her. _Kitty thought with sigh. _I mean, I don't believe for a second that she took off after Metal Sonic got past her. _

She then added, _something must have happened during that time that none of us are aware of at the moment, but what?_

Kitty though wouldn't be able to think this over for long, as something bizarre caught her eye near the island, none other than a spout from what appeared to be a large whale about thirty feet behind the island.

_That's odd. _She thought with arched eyebrows. _Why would a whale be near the island after several missiles exploded? Wouldn't that have scared off any sea creatures nearby to flee?_

To make things even stranger, Kitty saw the whale just sitting there, spouting off again and again, doing the same thing repetitiously.

_Ok, something not right here. That whale hasn't move an inch the whole time I've been watching it. Plus, why would a whale be that close to an island anyway? It makes no sense._

Not even forty five seconds later, Kitty unfortunately found out her suspicions were indeed legit.

Out of nowhere, the whale stopped spotting, where the top part of it soon parted back like a roof covering.

_What the… Since when can a whale open itself up? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was…_

Kitty instantly got the answer to her question, as she thought with rage while gritting her teeth, _I knew it! Eggman's still alive! But how?_

Kitty could only watch in disgust, as Eggman subtly flew out of the metal whale decoy, none other in his latest escape vehicle, called the Egg Hawk, where he then made his stealth get away.

_So, he thinks he's going to get away that easily, does he? Well, he's got another thing coming!_

Moments later, Kitty logged onto Tails' X-Tornado radio frequency with her wireless radio headset, saying, "Tails, I need you to fly near the chopper so I can get onboard."

"Why?" he asked with puzzlement.

"Eggman's still alive!" she stated loudly.

"WHAT?" Tails at first could barely speak, as he soon asked with shock, "Are you serious?"

"I couldn't be more unfortunately." Kitty replied bluntly. "We need to stop him before he thinks he can escape and attack us another day."

"Are you sure that's a wise idea with Sonic critically injured at the moment?" Tails asked.

"I'm afraid we don't have a choice." Kitty told him. "If he gets away, who knows what he'll do next? He could blow up the hospital Sonic will be recovering in for all we know."

After Kitty put it that way, Tails answered firmly, "Very well… let's go and finish off that mad man! I'll be in position within twenty five seconds."

Kitty then logged off her radio, as Commander Towers walked over to her and asked, "What was that all about, Agent Katswell?"

"Sir, Eggman's still alive." She explained.

"What? That's preposterous." Commander Towers declared, completely not convinced. "I saw his base reduced to rubble with my own two eyes."

"I don't know how he did it." Kitty reiterated. "But he somehow escaped. We must deal with him pronto."

"I gotta see this for myself." The G.U.N Commander said, taking the binoculars and looking through them at the island.

Unfortunately, by this time, Eggman was out of the binoculars' range, making the G.U.N Commander say with a scoff, "I think you need to get your eyes checked. I don't see anything."

"What do you mean?"

"See for yourself, Agent Katswell."

Kitty then glanced at the binoculars again, where she sadly saw the same thing. Eggman by this time had disappeared into thin air, making her jaw drop, thinking, _Impossible! How could he slither away so quickly?_

Nevertheless, Kitty said firmly, "I know what I saw, sir, and I'm going to put a stop to him once and for all this time!"

"Don't be ridiculous!" The Commander told her firmly. "The job is done, so stop with this gung go heroine act of yours already. It's getting on my nerves."

Kitty though wasn't about to do that, as she soon saw Tails in position.

"What is he doing so close to the chopper?" the G.U.N Commander inquired frowning.

"He's my ride." Kitty explained.

"He's your what? Have you lost your mind?" Commander Towers demanded.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I have to go now." Kitty told him firmly.

"Oh no, you won't!" Commander Towers shot back, pointing a finger at her. "I will not have you taking matters into your own hands any longer. You've already done it twice and that's pushing it too far already."

"Sir, we can't let Eggman get away." Kitty argued. "He's still alive, and if we don't attack him while he's on the run, he could do some major damage to us and Central City behind our backs."

Commander Towers though by this time had lost all of his patience, saying, "Agent Katswell, you are not going and that's final."

Tails by this time got onto Kitty's radio and said, "Ok, I'm in position. Let's go."

"Agent Katswell, you will tell your friend to stand down and move away from our chopper or I will discipline you this time for disobedience."

By this point, the feline agent couldn't have felt more torn inside. While she had helped her friends take down Eggman's base, she knew she had to complete the job for her own satisfaction.

In spite of this will to fight, Kitty struggled within herself about whether or not to let this go, since she still wanted to succeed as a G.U.N agent.

"Are you going to do as I tell you or not?" Commander Towers demanded.

Again, Kitty fought within herself of what to do.

_What do I do? Do I dare let Eggman get away just to keep my job, or do I actually take this chance and actually risk finishing him off?_

"Kitty, are you there?" Tails asked. "What's the holdup?"

Ten seconds later, Kitty finally made up her mind. This unfortunately would be an even harder decision to make than the one inside Eggman's base, but there was no turning back now.

She then said, "Tails?"

"Yea, Kitty?"

Kitty instantly shocked the G.U.N Commander, as she grabbed her weapon's bag nearby and added, "Open the hatch, I'm coming aboard."

"Will do, Kitty."

"You what?"

Not wanting to look back, Kitty ran towards the left opening of the chopper, as she heard the G.U.N Commander shout from behind with disgust, "Agent Katswell, you get back here this instant!"

Kitty unfortunately couldn't make herself do that. With Eggman still on the loose, she knew she had to finish the job she set out to do.

She then lept towards the X-Tornado, which was going about the same speed as the chopper and firmly grabbed onto the open canopy of the jet, where she then climbed inside of it.

Once she was in, Commander Towers made one last threat, shouting near the same opening, "If you don't get out of that jet right this second, I swear I will punish you severely!"

"I'm sorry, Commander, but I have to do this." Kitty replied to firmly. "You'll understand soon enough."

And with that statement, Tails closed the canopy and flew off back towards the island, as the G.U.N Commander yelled again at her in anger while raising both of his fists in the air at her, "AGENT KATSWELL!"

Once the X-Tornado was one hundred feet away, Commander Towers thought with contempt on his face, _I have had it her! She thinks she can do whatever she wants, whenever she wants! Well, I won't stand for this any longer! When she returns, I'm going to give her a big fat pink slip as her reward!_

However, as he took a couple of deep breaths and began to calm down, he realized the President would not tolerate that move on his part at all, especially after everything she had done for G.U.N.

_Well, if I can't fire her, then at the very least she'll get the next worst thing. She will not get away with being a renegade G.U.N agent any longer!_

Back in the X-Tornado, Kitty also took a deep breath of regret, as she felt bad inside for having to disobey her superior.

"Are you sure you saw Eggman?" Tails asked, still not completely convinced.

"I know what I saw." Kitty replied firmly. "He somehow escaped the blast and is trying to retreat to another hideout of his. We can't let that happen."

Tails unfortunately was didn't know what to think of this, as Kitty added once she saw the doubt on his face, "Hey, have I ever lied to you before?"

"No." Tails answered softly.

"Then please trust me on this." Kitty told him. "After all, I have no reason to lie to you about something this risky, right?"

Tails couldn't deny that, as he nodded his head softly in agreement.

Kitty however could still sense the fear and concern in his eyes, as she said to the two tailed fox to calm his nerves, "I know you're worried about Sonic, and I would like nothing more than for us to be at his side. But, we can't do anything for him about his condition at the moment. However, we can finish the job in his honor if nothing else."

Tails was almost deeply offended by that statement, but understood what she was driving at.

Kitty then placed her right hand on Tails shoulder, saying, "C'mon, let's win this war, for Sonic."

Tails quickly nodded his head in agreement, replying with a sniffle while regaining his composure, "Ok, for Sonic…"

And with that statement, Tails put his jet at max speed that it could handle, as he too was determined to punish Eggman for the sake of his best friend.

While this was going on, Eggman by this time thought he had made a clean get away. Thanks to clever ingenuity, he had escaped detection from G.U.N completely. Only Kitty ironically had been able to spot him.

The mad doctor then said to himself with a chuckle, "Well, I guess my backup plan came in handy after all. It's a good thing I was smart enough to plan ahead just in case something went wrong."

A split second later, his mood changed to one of disgust, as he muttered with a growl, "That blasted feline agent… I cannot believe how much damage she was able to do my empire. Why, she's just bad as Sonic, if not more so! Never in my life has anyone given me such a fit like her. Well, ok, that meddlesome fox is a bad thorn in my side as well. Still, the damage he did was nothing compared to what Kitty Katswell was able to pull off."

After a brief pause, he added, "Nevertheless, at least I got out of there unscathed. Not even that meddlesome bat was able to slow me down with her two timing ways in that regard, Heh Heh!"

He then said after another long pause, "Anyway, once I arrive at my backup base, I'll be able to regroup and then strike again before they know it. I shall soon have my revenge against those filthy Mobians, blasting them and G.U.N too to total annihilation!"

During this tirade of his, Tails and Kitty were now only a mile behind. Within thirty seconds, they finally spotted his Egg Hawk, where they then soon closed in a hurry.

"There's Eggman!" Kitty told Tails, while pointing below "Let's get em!"

"With pleasure." Tails replied with firm determination, gripping the steering wheel as tightly as he could.

Eggman meanwhile heard their jet from above, making him look up.

Instantly, he recognized the aircraft as the X-Tornado, making the mad scientist almost do a double take.

"What? That annoying fox found out about my escape?" he shouted in disbelief. "Impossible! I had it down to a science!"

Seconds later, the X-Tornado completely passed by him, making Eggman say to himself, "Huh? What's that two tailed menace up to now?"

Eggman though soon figured out. Once Tails quickly turned around his jet once it was far enough ahead, he then dive-bombed head on towards the Egghawk, firing multiple lasers at it in rapid succession to try and blast it out of the water.

Eggman however was able to evade it in the nick of time, as he veered his escape vehicle to the right out of harm's way.

"Blast I missed!" Tails stated loudly with disgust.

"Keep your composure, Tails." Kitty instructed. "He's a sitting duck for your X-Tornado to shred. Just use your head and Eggman will soon be history."

Hearing this boosted the confidence of the two tailed fox, where he soon again prepared to fire.

Eggman however was ready for his first attack this time, as he stated with a grin, "Just try that move on me again, fox brat. I'll see to it you end up seriously regretting it."

Tails unfortunately would indeed try it again, as his emotions were now beginning to cloud his judgment a bit.

However, as Eggman has said, he was indeed ready it.

The second Tails turned his jet around to fire again, Eggman quickly countered it, as he fired his built on machine guns on the front nose of his Egg Hawk, aiming towards the left wings of the X-Tornado and then pressed the button.

Tails unfortunately had no time to react and evade since he had gone into full attack mode. As a result of this, Eggman took out the built on laser cannon with ease, even causing it to catch fire.

The two tailed fox looked on horrified, as he finally swerved his jet out of harms' way from receiving any more damage, shouting disgusted while his onboard computer blared the extent of the damage, "I don't believe this! He took out my left laser cannon!"

Even Kitty was surprised how easy Eggman had pulled this off.

Nonetheless, she kept her composure, as she now dug into her weapons' bag that she had brought on board.

Tails then muttered to himself while she rummaged through it, "Great, now what?"

"What else?" Kitty replied, grabbing her M249 SAW laser machine gun. "We improvise."

Tails looked back with a look of shock, as he saw her cutting a small hole in his jet's canopy with one of her claws.

"What are you doing?" Tails asked perplexed.

"I need a hole for my gun to shoot from." Kitty explained while cutting it.

"But that hole will slow us down aerodynamically." Tails protested.

"Relax." Kitty reiterated. "It won't slow us down too much. And besides, we have more than enough speed to take it to Eggman anyway."

Moments later, the feline agent told Tails, "Attack the same way you did before."

Tails almost did a double take, as he argued, "Are you crazy? He'll shred my other laser cannon if I do that."

"Not if I beat him to the punch first." Kitty replied with a sly grin.

Tails now looked at her confused, as Kitty told him a split second later, "Trust me on this. I have a plan."

So, in spite of his concerns, the two tailed fox decided to bite the bullet and give her new plan a go.

Seconds later, Tails again turned around his aircraft after passing Eggman's and aimed directly for the mad doctor.

Eggman of course saw this and just chuckled, "So, he's actually going to try that three times now? What a stupid fox! I guess his head must not really be in the game."

Kitty meanwhile instructed Tails once he was turned around, "Move to the left, now!"

Tails instantly followed her instructions, as he turned his control stick to the left.

Eggman during this time again had his guns on the Egg Hawk open fire, now attempting to take out the laser cannon on the right wing.

This time however, Eggman completely missed thanks to the two tailed fox swerving to the left, putting his bullets out of its targeted range.

Kitty meanwhile bided her time, now waiting until X-Tornado was passing by the Egg Hawk's left side. Once it was there, she put her machine gun through the hole she had made earlier, immediately opening fire.

Eggman to say the least was completely taken by surprise by the feline agent's sneak attack.

"What the…?"

To his shock, he saw Kitty aiming for this left wing, trying to destroy the left propeller in order to cripple his Hawk.

"Oh, no you don't!" Eggman shouted, veering his aircraft out the line of fire to the left.

Eggman's evasive maneuvers fortunately kept his Egg Hawk from receiving extensive damage, but that's not to say Kitty's effort weren't completely in vain.

Eggman soon smelled something, and there he saw some smoke coming from the right propeller, making him growly with disgust.

As it turned out, Kitty's M249 SAW at least wounded his Hawk's left propeller somewhat, reducing his aircraft's speed down by about twenty five miles per hour.

Eggman then muttered still frowning, "All right, if that furball wants to play war games, then we'll play!"

Back in the X-Tornado, Kitty was a bit disappointed to put it lightly.

"Shoot." She muttered to Tails with a sigh while looking out the canopy. "I wasn't able to do as much damage as I would have liked."

"Well, we'll just have to try again, won't we?" Tails replied, looking at her confidently.

Kitty at first was surprised to see him this focused and composed, but soon gave him a nod, saying, "You bet. Let's do it."

Eggman though during this time was already preparing his counter measures, saying, "If that fox dares to try shoot me from his cockpit again, I'll make him seriously regret it!"

A thought then crossed his mind. _It just occurred to me… since when does that fox brat use guns? If I didn't know better, I'd say that was caused by… nah… couldn't be…_

Kitty meanwhile instructed to Tails as he aimed his jet towards the Egg Hawk, "Once you're squarely in front of Eggman after turning around, tilt the jet on its left side."

"Are you sure that won't be too risky?" Tails asked with a bit of hesitation.

Kitty again flashed a grin at him, answering while holding her machine gun, "Don't worry, it's in the bag."

And so, Tails again decided to give her next plan a go.

Eggman however unfortunately had anticipated something like this, saying to himself, "That's right… just try and shoot at me again, fox boy."

Five seconds later, Tails was now in position, as he soon again turned, now squarely in front of Eggman.

Once there, Kitty shouted, "NOW!"

Instantly, the two tailed fox rotated his jet ninety degrees to the left, where Kitty put her M249 SAW through the hole again.

Unfortunately though, Eggman was completely ready for it.

The second he saw the jet tilt, the mad doctor pointed his machine guns directly at the canopy, instantly opening fire.

Thankfully for Kitty, she quickly saw Eggman's counter measures, making her shout frantically, "Tilt back, tilt back now!"

Tails fortunately too saw the guns, causing him to tilt back to the right, now putting the plane back at the proper angle.

Even so, Eggman's bullets still came flying towards them like a pack of angry hornets.

"Evasive action, take evasive action!" Kitty again shouted to Tails.

Tails thankfully didn't have to be told twice, as he did indeed move his jet up and the right to get out of the line of fire.

Unfortunately for the X-Tornado, that wasn't good enough, as Eggman's bullets zinged towards the right wing, where it soon cut through the right laser cannon mounted onto it, destroying it completely.

Immediately, the two tailed fox received the damage report from the cockpit, making him groan loudly with frustration.

"Just perfect…" He muttered angrily. "Eggman's taken out both of my aircraft guns!"

Kitty then said sheepishly to Tails to try and calm him down, "Sorry about that. That's on me. I made a poor decision there."

"No, don't blame yourself too much. " Tails replied, now composing himself. "Eggman just outsmarted us again. We're just going to have to find another way to outwit that mad man."

Kitty understood why he went easy on her, but said to him nonetheless, "Anyway, I think I might have another strategy cooked up. You want to hear it?"

"Sure, why not?" Tails answered with a straight face.

While this was going on, Eggman soon discovered the X-Tornado's new predicament, putting a big smile on his face. "Perfect… now that the fox brat's jet is defenseless, I can finally cut that despicable aircraft of his in two without much resistance."

Seconds later, Eggman pulled back on the control stick, now heading up towards the X-Tornado, which was ahead of his Hawk by about twenty feet, as well as a hundred feet higher in the air.

Kitty meanwhile by this time explained her new plan, saying to Tails, "If we can execute this successfully, Eggman's aircraft should be rendered useless afterwards."

Tails by this point was beginning to lose some of the resolve he had just gained earlier, but replied nonetheless, "Ok, let's give it a go."

Kitty then began to cut a small hole in the right side of the canopy with one of her claws again, where she soon a loud buzzing sound from behind halfway through.

Kitty quickly turned her head around, and there she saw Eggman coming at them from behind, shouting to the two tailed fox, "Watch out! He's right behind us!"

Due to being forced to take evasive action from before, Eggman's Egg Hawk had been able to close the gap.

Even so, Tails was on full alert from before and quickly reacted, doing a complete loop in the air to evade the gunfire coming at his jet.

After completing the loop, he found himself right behind the Egg Hawk and closing.

Kitty during this time completed cutting the hole in the right side, saying to Tails after she finished, "Ok, you ready to execute this plan?"

"But Eggman just threw a wrench in our plans." Tails protested.

"Not quite." Kitty replied. "We can still pull it off if we work together." She then asked of him, "Are you with me?"

Tails again took a deep sigh, answering softly, "Yea… you know I am."

"Ok then, let's take it to that psychopath." Kitty said firmly.

While this had been going on, Eggman's mood of satisfaction soon soured, muttering after flying lower towards the ocean's waters to be in position to counter, "Ah, great, now those morons are behind me and closing fast! Well, no matter… I'll just counter their next attack when it comes for me."

Eggman was pretty confident what their next move would be.

Little did he realize though, he would not be holding all the aces this time.

Once the X-Tornado was within ten feet of the Egg Hawk, Kitty instructed Tails, "Ok, move us into position to be on the right side of his aircraft."

Tails immediately did as he was told, putting his jet into position.

After it was there, Kitty said to him while preparing to stick her gun out of the right hole, "Ok, steady, steady…"

Eggman meanwhile saw the X-Tornado on his right side, as well as Kitty's M249, where he then quickly reacted, pointing the mounted machine guns at it and prepared to fire.

The split second Kitty saw Eggman turn his aircraft towards them, she shouted to Tails, "NOW!"

Instantly, the two tailed fox knew what to do. He quickly veered his jet to the left, missing the gunfire that came at them completely.

"What the…?"

Kitty then poked her machine gun out of the right hole and quickly opened fire, now aiming for the left propeller.

Again, Eggman was completely taken by surprise by this, forcing him to swerve his Hawk out of harm's way.

Nevertheless, Kitty again got a good piece of Eggman's aircraft, as his left propeller was now smoking from the damage caused her lasers, slowing it down even more.

By this time, the mood of Eggman and Tails were completely contrasted.

Eggman soon banged on the dash his fist in disgust while the two tailed fox raised his right hand with elated.

"Way to go, Kitty." Tails said to her psyched up. "You really took it to Eggman's plane there."

Kitty at this point couldn't help but smile at his praise, but replied nonetheless, "The job's not done yet, Tails. Let's finish what we started and bring that aircraft of his down once and for all."

"You got it." Tails said with vigor in his eyes. He then declared boldly "Eggman, you're toasted now!"

Eggman though wasn't about to throw in the towel, muttering to himself, "It's not over yet, furballs! I still have plenty of tricks up my sleeve. Just you wait!"

Moments later, Kitty said to Tails, "Turn this jet around and this time attack from the rear. With Eggman's plane wounded now, there's no need to take any more unwarranted risks."

Tails couldn't argue with that, as he soon did another loop to get behind the Egg Hawk and then pursued after it again.

Eggman during this time though was ready for his counter measures, as he soon saw the X-Tornado loop from above, saying, "Oh, so trying to get me from behind again, eh? Well, I will certainly make you regret that move soon enough."

Within seconds, the X-Tornado was in position to strike, as Kitty instructed, "Move to the left this time in order to throw off Eggman."

"Roger." Tails replied.

However, the second Tails moved to the left, Eggman soon followed suit, perplexing not only him, but Kitty too.

"What the…? What's he doing?" Tails pondered bewildered.

Kitty at first didn't know what to think of this either, so she said to him, "Move to the right, now."

Tails again did as he was told, but Eggman followed yet again before Kitty could get a clear shot at him.

"He's… following our pattern and trying to stay underneath the X-Tornado…" Kitty commented with a frown. "I'll have to give him credit for that move."

Seconds later unfortunately, the X-Tornado then passed by the Egg Hawk, where Eggman instantly pounced, shooting his machines gun at the underside of the jet.

Kitty then said to him the second she heard gunfire from behind, "Quick, do another loop, Tails."

Tails did as he was told, soon looping his jet out of harm's way.

Thankfully, none of the bullets did any serious damage to his aircraft.

Tails then muttered with disgust, "Ah, great… that rotten Eggman's thought of everything."

"No he hasn't." Kitty replied with firm look on her face. "If he wants to toy with us, then we'll show him it's done."

"What you got cooked up now?" Tails asked, trying to keep his composure.

"I don't have a lot of time to explain." Kitty told him. "Just follow my directions and we should get the upper hand this time."

"Well, ok then…" Tails answered with a sigh.

Two seconds after he had said this, his X-Tornado was soon in the same position as before.

"Ok, you ready, Tails?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, Kitty."

The split second they came towards the Egg Hawk, Kitty instructed the two tailed fox, "Move to the right this time."

Tails did as he was told, moving the control stick in that direction.

Again, Eggman moved his plane in the same direction to stay completely underneath them.

Kitty then said a split second later, "Move to the left now."

Once he did, Eggman soon followed suit as well.

"This is getting us nowhere, Kitty." Tails complained.

"Hold on, I'm not done yet." Kitty told him.

Two seconds later, the feline agent said, "Ok, this time, I want you to only go halfway towards the right."

"Why?" he asked puzzled.

"You'll see… just make sure you have your hands tightly on the controls for my next instruction." Kitty said.

Tails quickly nodded his in agreement, again doing as he was told.

He soon veered his jet to the right, but very slowly this time in order to follow Kitty's guidance.

Thankfully for them, Eggman bit on it, as he moved towards the right as well.

The split second Kitty saw it, she shouted, "Full left, now!"

Tails instantly complied, as he swung the controls the left as hard as he could.

Needless to say, Eggman did not see their double move in time and soon paid for it.

This time when Kitty shot at Eggman's right propeller from the hole in the canopy, it not only resulted in more smoke and sparks, it even caught on fire.

When Eggman saw that, he instantly freaked out, shouting with rage, "NO! NO! NO! This can't be happening!"

Eggman of course veered his aircraft out of harm's way in time to prevent the feline agent from completely destroying one of his engines.

Even so, the damage was done, reducing his engine output further.

Tails again pumped his right fist when he saw the aftermath, cheering, "Yes! Well done, Kitty. You outwitted him again."

Unfortunately for the two tailed fox though, his cheers would end up being premature, as he underestimated Eggman's fierce determination to fight to the end.

Two seconds later, before Kitty could even respond to Tails' praise a second time, Eggman retaliated by taking a shot to shoot down their jet from above.

Even though it was a long shot due to them being higher and faster in the air, the mad doctor by this point was nothing short of desperate.

And in that desperation, he fired everything he had at the X-Tornado, resulting in the X-Tornado taking damage to the left rear engine.

While the bullets hardly at all rattled Tails' jet, his visual screen soon displayed the red screen, showing what had just happened.

When Tails saw it, his enthusiasm instantly faded, saying in disbelief, "Oh, no… no, no, no. NO! NO! Please tell me this didn't just happen."

Kitty was about to ask what had upset him, but soon saw the screen herself, making her too look on deeply concerned.

She then turned her head and looked out the back.

"Oh boy… this isn't good." She commented softly.

"What did you see? Tails inquired intently.

"The exhaust from the left jet engine has smoke pouring from it." Kitty explained. "That can only mean one thing…"

"It's caught fire in other words…" he stated softly.

"Unfortunately, yes." Kitty answered hesitantly.

By this time, Tails had about lost all of his composure.

Seeing his best friend critically injured had upset him enough already, but with his X-Tornado now in big trouble as well, especially since both predicaments had been caused by Eggman… that would was more than the two tailed fox could take.

"I have had it with Eggman and his dirty tricks!" Tails shouted seething. "I'm going to kill him with my own two hands for this!"

Kitty could tell by the way he was talking he was on the verge of a complete emotional meltdown.

"Tails, please calm down." Kitty said to him. "You can't defeat Eggman in this frame of mind."

Tails at that point was almost tempted to turn on her, but replied loudly instead since he still had feelings for the feline agent, "Don't tell me what I can't do! I can, and I will defeat Eggman! You hear me?"

Kitty again tried to reason with him, saying, "Tails, he wants you to fight him with your emotions because he knows you won't be as effective that way."

"And how would you know that?" he demanded, now glaring at her.

"Because… I was in your position not that long ago." Kitty stated, looking away, still ashamed of that memory.

"What do you mean?" he asked curiously.

"Before I came to G.U.N, I too wanted to punish a villain just for revenge. In fact, I wanted to get him so bad, I ended up doing some really dangerous stunts just to defeat him. And when I finally did, I wanted to kill him on the spot rather than let justice take its course."

When Tails heard this, he softened up somewhat inside, inquiring further, "What exactly are you trying to tell me?"

"What I'm trying to say is this…" Kitty explained. "Your reasons for defeating for Eggman cannot be based solely on revenge. If they are, you'll end up doing things you'll regret later on…" She then added with a sigh, "Like I did…"

By this time, Tails calmed down enough that he understood she did have a point. He soon said afterwards, taking a deep breath "I guess you're right…"

Kitty now put a hand on his shoulder, telling him, "Believe me, I want Eggman taken down as bad as you do, but we must be use our heads when doing so. He's already proven how dangerous he can be if underestimated. Let's not give him any more of an advantage than he already has."

Tails nodded his head in agreement, replying, "Ok then, we'll do this the right way."

"That's the spirit." Kitty said with a slight smile.

Back in the chopper during this battle, the flight back to Central City continued to be a very slow and agonizing one, especially for Amy Rose. With every passing second, she couldn't help but see Sonic slipping away little by little, making her tear up again.

Even Cream was deeply worried about Sonic's condition.

Amy then asked, even though she knew it was pointless, "Can this thing go any faster?"

"Ma'am, the chopper is at max speed." One of the medical workers told her. "Please try to remain calm."

"I told you…" Amy lashed out with sorrow in her voice. "I can't remain calm because of…"

"Yes, we know…" Another medical worker stated, interrupting with a sigh.

Amy at this point realized yelling at them was pointless, so she now kept her silence, watching her True Blue very closely inside.

As for Knuckles, he too was worried about Sonic's condition, but didn't want to think about it since it was starting to upset him.

Since his injuries was nothing more serious than a separated shoulder, the G.U.N medical team decided to treat it later and focus on helping the blue hedgehog in the meantime.

Knuckles soon looked out the chopper opening, glancing at the ruins of Eggman's base.

He then thought to himself, _I wonder if what Kitty said was true… Is it possible Eggman is still alive?_

Deep down, he didn't know for sure since nobody except her could confirm what she saw earlier.

Seconds later, Knuckles took another glance at Sonic to see if there was any change within him.

Unfortunately, there was none, which made him shake his head with a sigh.

At that moment, the red echidna began to feel guilty inside, thinking, _I should have helped out sooner. I could have prevented this had I not been so gung ho in trying to protect my Master Emerald._

Before Knuckles could give this anymore thought, something in the right corner of his eye from outside caught his attention.

_Huh? What was that?_

Within seconds, Knuckles saw metal debris from the island fly up into the air and crash to the ground again.

_That was odd… _Knuckles thought to himself. _How did those metal pieces get shot up into the air that easily? That could only happen if…_

Knuckles though blew off this thought right away, thinking, _No, no, no, not possible… There's no way any of Eggman's robots survived that blast._

Nonetheless, the red echidna couldn't help but shake the fear that maybe one of them did indeed, especially the one that had given them the biggest problem during their escape.

He then thought, _if that robot somehow survived, what does that mean for Kitty and Tails? _

Deep down, a part of him, even in his injured condition wanted to go with them. But since Tails had taken off in the X-Tornado with Kitty so quickly, he didn't get a chance to offer to help out.

Not to mention Sonic's condition had rattled him emotionally.

Meanwhile, the battle between Eggman's Egg Hawk and the X-Tornado would now heat even more.

Since Eggman had been given them huge fits during the battle, Kitty realized she would have to take a big risk in order to level the playing field.

"So what's this new plan of yours anyway?" Tails inquired while flying towards the Egg Hawk.

Kitty was hesitant to tell him whole plan since she was fully aware of Tails' crush on her, but decided to tell half him of it after a brief pause.

"Fly in a straight line this time toward his aircraft and take evasive maneuvers when you see him aiming his gun at you." Kitty instructed.

"Then what?" Tails asked.

"I'll let you know once we're in position." Kitty answered.

Not surprisingly, Tails was a bit perplexed by her instructions, but decided to trust her on it since she had been a big help so far.

As he flew closer, Kitty firmly put her M249 SAW in her back holder strap, now waiting to be in position.

Eggman during this time saw them closing in, again attempting the same strategy as before.

While they had turned around, he had grabbed a bucket from his cockpit and scooped some ocean water in it, where he then tried to put out the fire in the right propeller. Thankfully for him, he had been able to extinguish it, but the smoke and sparks from it still continued to flourish.

Seconds later, the X-Tornado was soon right on top of the Egg Hawk, casting a large shadow over it.

"You sure this plan of yours will work?" Tails asked Kitty, still a bit suspicious of this whole strategy.

"Trust me." Kitty replied firmly. "You'll understand soon enough."

Before they knew it, they were in the same position as before, as Eggman soon pointed his Egg Hawk's machine gun at Tails' jet and prepared to open fire.

Kitty, who had been watching the mad doctor's movements closely, now pounced once she saw Eggman attempting to man the guns again.

She then completely shocked Tails, as she opened the canopy to where she was sitting.

"What are you doing?" Tails asked in horror.

"What else, carrying out my part of plan." Kitty answered, standing up to get into position to jump.

"Are you crazy?" Tails demanded. "You didn't tell me this was part of the plan."

"Because I knew you would try to talk me out of it if I did." Kitty explained.

Moments later, Eggman now had the guns ready to fire, which was also Kitty's cue to jump.

As she attempted to bail out, Tails shouted pleading, "Don't do this! It's suicide!"

"I'm sorry, but it has to be done." Kitty told him. "Just make sure you carry your part of the plan."

"Kitty, please…"

"I'm counting on you Tails, don't let me down." Kitty said.

And with that statement, the feline agent jumped out of the X-Tornado, now summersaulting her way towards top of the Egg Hawk.

"KITTY! NO!" he shouted, extending his right hand towards her.

Tails unfortunately couldn't watch her descend for long, as Eggman's bullets soon came for his X-Tornado in a fury.

Having no choice in order to keep his jet in one piece, Tails desperately hooked his jet up and to the left to evade the gunfire.

Fortunately for him, Eggman's bullets didn't hit the rear engines this time. Although, the bullets did end up hitting part of the wings on the right side, putting a good sized hole in it.

Tails then closed the canopy once his jet was in a straight line, saying with a deep sigh while gritting his teeth after it was done, "Kitty, what were you thinking? You're going to get yourself killed if you don't stop taking such unwarranted risks."

Eggman meanwhile saw the X-Tornado evade his bullets without any significant damaging, saying in response to it with a huff, "Ah, I missed again. No matter, at least I think that meddlesome fox is finally out of clever tricks to beat me with."

Moments later, Eggman would end up eating those words almost instantly, as Kitty then shot a few lasers a few feet from his head in order to try and rattle him.

Eggman instantly leaped out of his cockpit and onto the floor nearby, as those shots from her M249 did indeed rattle him.

He then turned around and saw the feline agent walking towards him with a look anger on her face, retorting, "You were saying, Doctor?"

At that moment, it instantly hit Eggman who had been behind the X-Tornado's swift and clever moves, making his say incensed, "You…!"

"Did you really think you were going to get away from me that easily?" Kitty inquired, still frowning at him. "I guess you didn't think of everything after all."

"How did you find out about my secret escape?" Eggman demanded after standing up. "My plan was foolproof!"

"Next time you try to escape through a metal whale," Kitty retorted firmly, "you might want to get further away from shore in case somebody with binoculars tries to take a peek there."

That comment of hers completely enraged Eggman, as he had no rebuttal for her, except to glare at her while saying with his teeth clinched, "You miserable feline… You've been hounding me since the day we met, and I've had all I cans stand with the likes of you!"

Kitty though ignored his angry rant, replying instead while pointing her machine gun at him, "End of the line, Eggman. Your days of causing chaos to the citizens of Central City are over."

Eggman however wasn't about to go quietly, shooting back, "You think I'm going to surrender to you just like that because you have a weapon? Think again!"

Unfortunately for the mad doctor, Tails by this time finally came flying in, now aiming towards his Egg Hawk with the X-Tornado's mecha feet, trying to force him to dive into the ocean in order to trap him.

However, the two tailed fox's aim would be a bit off, as Eggman again hit the floor to duck for cover instead, missing it by several inches.

After Tails flew by, Kitty firmly told Eggman with a glare, "It's over, Doctor. You can't beat both of us at the same time. Do yourself a favor and stop trying to prevent the inevitable.

Eggman by this point was beginning to lose all courage, as he knew it was looking very grim for him.

Tails then came over Kitty's wireless radio headset, saying, "Did I get him?"

"No, you were a little off," Kitty answered, "but it doesn't matter. We got Eggman on the ropes now."

"That's good to know." Tails replied with a sigh of relief. He then said with a frown, "I still can't believe you actually jumped out of the X-Tornado. You could have been killed had your aim been bad."

"That's why I had you steer in the middle of his aircraft." Kitty explained. "I knew it was the safest place to execute this plan."

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to do this earlier?" Tails demanded angrily. "I am your partner in this mission after all."

Eggman meanwhile saw Kitty was momentarily distracted, which made him realize he could strike if timed correctly.

"Like I said, I knew you would try to talk me out of it, and there was no time to talk it over." Kitty answered, trying to calm him down. "I didn't mean to upset you, but I had to do what I had to do. It was the only way to pin Eggman down."

After hearing that, Tails understood a bit more, making him reply with a sigh, "I guess that's true… Still, you really scared me back there. I mean, I don't want anything bad to happen to you because I really…"

At that moment, Eggman instantly pounced, as he subtly grabbed the steering wheel with his right hand and moved it left to right aggressively, trying to knock the feline off of his Egg Hawk into the water.

Even Tails soon noticed the movement on Eggman's aircraft, making him lose his train of thought, saying, "Kitty?"

Kitty unfortunately during this time was taken by complete surprise, as the Egg Hawk rocked back and forth violently. This in turn made her stagger back and forth, almost losing her balance.

"Kitty!"

Thankfully for the feline agent, she reacted in time to regain her lose footing, but unfortunately lost her M249 SAW in the process.

"No!" Kitty shouted, extending her hand towards it.

Her machine gun soon hit the ocean floor, where it was now completely useless to her now.

"Ha!" Eggman chortled, now standing up near his cockpit. "So much for your precious little weapon. I guess you're not holding all the aces after all."

Before Kitty could respond to this, Tails asked, "Kitty, are you all right?"

"Yea, I'm fine." She replied with a frown. "But Eggman's antics just threw a wrench into our plans."

"What do you mean?" the two tailed fox inquired.

"I lost my weapon due to the abrupt rocking." Kitty explained.

Tails instantly gasped, as he realized subduing Eggman would now be a lot harder than before.

Eggman again tried to take advantage of their conversation, but Kitty this time was ready for it, saying, "Listen, Tails. We're going to need change strategies now."

"Like what?" Tails inquired.

Kitty though couldn't answer him, as she saw Eggman again going for the controls.

She then ran towards Eggman and tackled him onto the ground, grabbing his legs, saying firmly, "Oh, no you don't! You're not pulling that stunt this time!"

"Kitty, what's going on down there?" Tails asked with concern.

"I don't have time to explain." Kitty told him. "Just land the X-Tornado on the Egg Hawk and give me a hand. I'll try to keep Eggman busy in the meantime."

"Roger, will do." Tails replied.

Moments later, Eggman finally shoved the feline agent off of his legs onto the ground, using his lower body strength to do so.

Eggman again tried to go for the controls, but Kitty quickly spoke up, saying firmly, "Touch those controls, and I'll claw you good."

That threat unfortunately made Eggman flinch, as he quickly looked back and saw Kitty displaying her claws at him now.

"So, resorting to dirty tricks to beat me now?" Eggman stated. "I should expect no less from you."

"Looks who's talking, Mr. rock the ship." Kitty countered, now standing up.

Eggman again tried to reach for the controls, but kept one eye on Kitty in the meantime. Unfortunately for him, he saw he would not be able to reach them before she could strike due to her being only three feet away.

"Go on, touch those controls." Kitty challenged. "I dare you to."

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Eggman shot back. "Giving yourself an excuse to use those so called lethal weapons of yours."

Before Kitty could respond to that, Eggman added, "Yea, I'd like to see you actually fight me with just your bare hands. I bet you wouldn't be so strong then."

Eggman's words lit a fire in her, as he added, "In fact, I'd like to see you beat me without using one karate move either."

"Oh, you don't think I can, do you?" Kitty countered.

"I know you can't." Eggman retorted. "The only reason you're such a dynamic fighter in the first place is because you use those two elements to your advantage."

Not wanting to back down from a challenge, Kitty replied without any hesitation, "You're on. Consider this your last stand, Eggman."

While this was going on, Tails decided to deal with recent problem with his jet.

"Ok, I'll have to do this correctly or I'll end doing some major damage to my engine." The two tailed fox commented after taking a deep breath.

Seconds later, Tails dive-bombed his jets towards the ocean floor. Once he was close enough, he then turned the X-Tornado upside down, trying to dip the top of the jet engine just for a split second in order to put out the fire.

Thankfully for the two tailed fox, he pulled off his dangerous move successfully, as the fire in the right engine was now extinguished.

Nevertheless, he received a bit of a scare when his engines soon hiccupped for a brief moment, but then resumed its normal flight a second later.

"Whew! That was a close one…" Tails commented, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Ok, now to help Kitty."

Back on the Egg Hawk, Kitty's hand to hand combat battle with Eggman turned out to be anything but easy.

As it turned out, Kitty soon discovered Eggman could definitely throw a punch or two, and dodging them was not as easy as it looked.

Nonetheless, Kitty was able to gain an early advantage, using her high agility and then counter, punching Eggman directly in the right cheek.

Eggman instantly growled after getting hit so quickly, as he now tried to swing his fists at her even harder.

But again, Kitty's ability to counter and then strike was flawless.

Within seconds, she stunned the mad doctor with a blow to the forehead after evading his swings, where she then let have him it.

Kitty quickly punched him on his left and right cheek, another to the gut, and finally knocking him to the ground with a strong uppercut underneath.

Eggman immediately went fell to the ground seriously dazed.

Wanting to rub it in, Kitty walked towards him, retorting, "So much for you saying I can't beat you in hand to hand combat. Why don't you just get a clue already and accept your fate?"

Eggman though wasn't about to quit that easily.

Within moments, he almost took Kitty by surprise, as he abruptly stood up and soon began to swing his fists at her again and again as hard as he could.

Kitty thankfully was able to evade it again without too much difficultly.

Unfortunately for her, before she could counter punch, Eggman then pulled a fast one on her, as he quickly stomped on her right foot during one of her evasive maneuvers.

Kitty instantly flinched, quickly holding her right foot up in pain, as his stomp had been very strong.

Eggman took full advantage of his cheap shot, where he now punched the feline agent in the face again and again.

Since Kitty had no time to react, she felt the full brunt of his attacks, soon staggering backwards with each blow. To make things worse for her, Eggman had been punching her directly towards one of his huge propellers in order to knock her inside of it.

Moments later, Eggman then knocked her off her feet, hitting her with the same uppercut she had used on him earlier.

Kitty quickly hit the ground flat on her back, now stunned herself. Thankfully for her though, Eggman's timing had been off, as she missed falling in by about three feet.

Nevertheless, Eggman tried again, as he now picked up Kitty by the neck and now attempted to toss her in directly.

Kitty though, in spite of his hand around her neck, fought valiantly. She then kicked him in the gut a split second before she could toss her in, now making him stagger backwards stunned.

Kitty instantly took full advantage of this, as she quickly got free from his grip and then attacked him with fury, kicking him again and again.

Once Eggman staggered back towards the middle of his Egg Hawk, Kitty went for the kill, as she quickly did a 360 flying kick to his face level him the ground.

Again, Eggman hit the floor hard, where he soon rubbed his jaw that had been hit by her kick, protesting, "Hey, I thought you weren't going to use any karate moves during this battle."

"That was before you pulled off you little cheap shot." Kitty retorted with a fierce glare. "If you're going to play dirty, then I will too…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, since when did we agree stomping on one's foot wasn't allowed as part of the battle moves?" Eggman inquired sarcastically.

Kitty though had no more patience for his witty remarks, as she said to him while pointing a finger from her right hand, "I'm done playing games with you. I'm ending this here and now."

Kitty then charged toward the mad doctor, where she now attempted to put him away by pouncing on top of him to try and subdue Eggman for good this time.

Unfortunately though, Eggman wasn't out of tricks yet.

The second she pounced on top of him, Eggman quickly knocked her off again, using his strong legs to shove the feline agent aside.

Kitty though quickly stood, as Eggman soon did likewise, where he soon told her, "So, you're as good of a fighter as advertised. I guess there was a good reason why Rouge couldn't put you away, no matter how many times she smacked you with those strong legs of hers."

Hearing Rouge's name soon snapped Kitty's attention to an important matter on her mind, saying, "That reminds me… where is she, Doctor? I looked over the entire island and found no trace of her anywhere. I have a feeling you know the answer to my question."

To her shock, Eggman instantly flashed a grin at her, making the feline gasp in disbelief, soon demanding with a fierce glare, "You do know, don't you?"

"Indeed I do."

"What did you do to her, you sicko?" Kitty demanded.

"Let's just say, I took care of her… permanently." Eggman retorted with the same grin. "She won't be causing anyone anymore problems ever again."

Kitty's heart instantly sank, as she didn't want to believe Rouge may indeed be no more. She then demanded further, "You killed her, didn't you?"

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't…" Eggman replied with a taunting tone in his voice, waving a finger at her from his right hand. "I'll never tell."

Eggman's taunts fueled Kitty's anger all the more, as she soon declared seething, "If she's dead now because of you, I swear her blood will be compensated with your very own!"

Eggman's facial expressions weren't moved in the least by her threat, as he soon replied, "Save your big talk until after you've beaten me. I'm far from being down for the count."

"We shall see about that." Kitty replied firmly, now running towards him.

Meanwhile, Tails finally landed his X-Tornado near the back of the Egg Hawk, using his mecha feet to bring it to a stop.

Once it was firmly on the ground, Tails opened up the canopy and looked for Kitty.

Within seconds, he spotted her, as the two tailed fox saw her and Eggman dueling yet again.

Tails was about to get out of the canopy and give her a hand, that is until he heard a certain whirring sound from behind.

"What was that?" he pondered to himself.

Tails then turned his head, and there he saw what was causing the commotion, none other than the fierce Metal Sonic robot itself.

Tails instantly gasped after spotting the blue spiky robot heading towards them, soon shouting to the feline agent, "Kitty!"

Kitty by this time had easily pinned Eggman to the ground within ten seconds, as her anger for what he had done had given her the strength and courage to fight with everything she had.

Once he was pinned, Kitty displayed her claws while on top of him, declaring with rage, "I'm going to make claw you up good for killing Rouge, you sick psychopath!"

"Ha." Eggman shot back. "You don't even know for sure if she was killed by me, or the missile attack sent by G.U.N, so what are you getting so worked up for?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Kitty demanded.

"Figure it out, G.U.N agent." Eggman retorted, saying the last part with mockery in his voice. "My words aren't so cryptic that you can't deduce them."

Kitty by this time though had had enough of his witty talk. She then winded her right hand back to slash him with her claws, that is until she heard Tails shout louder, "Kitty, look out behind you!"

The feline agent finally turned around, and there she too saw Metal Sonic coming for them at full speed. Instantly, her jaw dropped, thinking dumbfounded, _impossible! There's no way that thing could have survived the missile blast._

Unfortunately for her and Tails, it would soon strike with a vengeance.

Tails during this time saw coming directly for his X-Tornado, putting him on full alert.

He then attempted to ignite the jet engines after closing his canopy, trying desperately to get out of its path.

Sadly, that would not happen.

Before the two tailed fox could take off, Metal Sonic barreled into the X-Tornado at full speed from its right side, sending him violently tumbling off of the Egg Hawk and into the ocean water's below.

"Tails!"

Kitty's problems sadly would get only worse, as Eggman took full advantage of her distracted state, using his legs again to shove her off of him.

Kitty then demanded of Eggman after she hit the ground, "How is that thing still functioning? What, is it made of liquid metal of something? There is no way a small robot like that can take so much abuse and keep ticking."

Eggman though just grinned at her, retorting, "I guess you don't know the power of masterful designs, do you?"

Just then, Metal Sonic came charging in with a spin dash, aimed directly at Kitty.

Kitty thankfully evaded it by leaping high into the air over it, soon demanding after she landed, "What are you talking about, Eggman?"

"I'll put it simply." He replied, still grinning at her. "I used the same metal material that I made the E-18 with and used it as part of Metal's Sonic outer shell. That's why he's been able to take so many hits and keep fighting."

"But I saw him fizzle out earlier." Kitty argued.

"You did." Eggman retorted. "Unfortunately for you though, I had a backup system in place, just in case that did happen."

"Why you…"

"I think you have more important things to worry about than me, feline." Eggman sneered.

Indeed she did, as Kitty turned her head and saw Metal Sonic turning around, coming for her again.

"Enjoy trying to beat my secret weapon without any weapons of your own, furball." Eggman cackled. "You're in for a world of hurt now."

At that moment, Kitty was very tempted to attack Eggman for his bantering, but with Metal Sonic coming for her any second, that would be too risky of a move.

Eggman meanwhile finally got back into his cockpit, where he would now try to create additional problems for the feline agent.

Seconds later, Kitty saw Metal Sonic again closing in, trying to hit with her another spin dash.

Nevertheless, Kitty wasn't about to back down, as she soon got into a fighting position and prepared to counter.

_I sure hope Tails wasn't hurt in that collision. _She thought with a sigh.

Speaking of Tails, he thankfully only was rattled emotionally from the impact, though his X-Tornado had taken a good shot to the outer shell of his cockpit, putting a serious dent in it.

Unfortunately though, his problems would far from over.

While his jet had fortunately landed right side up, the sea water was soon starting to seep into the jet engines, as Tails quickly discovered this when he tried to refire the engines.

Again and again, they sputtered, as the sea water was seriously affecting more and more.

Tails though wouldn't quit trying, saying with his teeth clinched while pressing the button again and again., "C'mon, c'mon, start you hunk of junk!"

Finally, after twenty five seconds of hiccups, the X-Tornado now ignited, vaporizing any water left in the engine and then taking off.

Tails soon got his jet airborne, as he soon said afterwards with firm look on his face, "Hang on, Kitty. I'm coming for you."

On the way there however, Tails couldn't but fear Metal Sonic would seriously injure her before he could get there in time.

_Eggman, if your robot gravely wounds Kitty, I swear I'll make your death a very painful one._

Meanwhile, the G.U.N chopper carrying Sonic and his friends were soon within seeing distance of the Central City.

Amy, who continued to keep an eye on Sonic's condition, soon glanced over to her right, where she soon saw the buildings up ahead, putting a look of relief on her face.

The G.U.N pilot then announced, "Less than two miles from land."

"Where's the nearest hospital?" Amy asked the medical workers.

"About another mile into the city." One of them replied.

"Is that the closest one you have?" the pink hedgehog inquired further.

Another one of them answered unwisely, "Well, we do have a medical facility closer at G.U.N HQ."

Instantly, he regretted saying that, as Amy said frantically, "Then take him there! My Sonikku's life is on the line!"

At first, the medic tried to argue with her about it, that is until the G.U.N Commander interrupted him, saying, "I think she has a point. Sonic's life is on the line and we must do all we can for him."

"Are you sure about that, sir?" Another medic worker asked.

"Of course I am." Commander Towers replied firmly. "When the President finds about this, do you want to be able to tell him you did everything you could to save this brave hero or not?"

After that statement, none of the medic workers dared to argue with him further, except for one who inquired, "Sir, do we even have the proper staff at our medical facility to treat a hedgehog like him?"

"If they can help bandage Sonic up from a serious chest wound," Commander Towers reiterated, "Then they can help him with this too."

"Very well… as you wish, sir." The same medic worker replied.

Amy now breathed a bit easier inside after hearing this, although she was still very nervous.

Seven minutes later, the chopper finally landed onto of a helipad on the roof of HQ.

Once there, they quickly escorted Sonic onto a gurney and rushed him into their medical facility as fast, but as safely as possible.

Thanks to their solid efforts, the blue hedgehog was transported to an ICU room within another two minutes.

Amy and the others during that time ran kept up with them the whole time, as they soon were in the same room where Sonic was being cared for.

Even Knuckles did as well, who refused any medical attention to his shoulder since he couldn't bear the thought of leaving the room without knowing whether or not Sonic was going to be ok.

So, the medical staff there improvised, as another doctor and nurse came into the room and worked on repairing the red echidna's separated shoulder.

While they did that, another doctor soon came into the room and took a blood sample from Sonic, using a syringe.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked with concern.

"Taking a sample of Sonic's blood in order to find out what his type is." Sonic's doctor explained. "It's vital that we know in order to give him a successful transfusion."

"Oh, ok… Well, please hurry." The pink hedgehog pleaded.

"I'll have this done as soon as possible." The doctor replied, trying to reassure her.

And with that, he left the room.

Once he was out of sight, Amy walked over to his bedside, where she soon kept an eye on his heart monitor and other vital functions.

She then told him while rubbing his forehead with tears in her eyes, "Please don't die on me, Sonikku. I don't want to even think of having a life apart from you."

Cream during this time too walked over to his bedside, though on the opposite side of Amy's, as she clutched Sonic's hand with her own.

Trying to soothe Amy's emotional state, the young rabbit said to her, "Don't worry, Amy. I'm sure they'll do all they can to save Sonic's life."

Deep down though, Cream didn't believe her own words at all. Even she, at six years old, knew this was a life threatening injury.

Another two minutes passed, as the same doctor from before came into the room. However, his emotional expression tipped Amy off that the results were not encouraging.

"Did you find out Sonic's blood type?" Amy inquired.

"Yes… and no…" the doctor answered with a sigh.

"What do you mean?" Amy asked, trying to keep herself composed while she talked.

"I've never seen a blood type like this before." The doctor explained to her. "It's like a cross between A negative and hedgehog blood."

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Amy inquired further.

"I'll put it simply." The doctor answered, trying to sympathetic. "Sonic has lost a lot of blood. In fact, he's lost about four tenths of his entire supply from his body."

Amy instantly gasped, as the doctor soon added, "On top of that, his wound has a bit of an infection as well, compounding the problem."

Amy's eyes immediately began to well, thinking in horror, _No… It can't be…_

"I would give him an anti-biotic for the infection, but that would only make things worse since it would weaken his vital signs even more."

She then said trying not to break down in front of him, "Please, there's gotta be something you can do for him. You can't let him die, you just can't…"

Amy could barely say that last part of her sentence without a sob in her voice. The doctor could tell by her reaction how much she really did care for Sonic.

"I'm sorry, miss." The doctor explained. "But unless we can find a blood type that matches and quickly, there's nothing I can do for him."

Amy again tried to keep herself from sobbing profusely in the room, but it was becoming harder and harder for her to do.

Several seconds later, however, she said, "Wait, did you say half of his blood type was hedgehog blood?"

"Yes, I did." The doctor replied. "Why?"

"Well, I'm a hedgehog." Amy told him. "Maybe my blood matches his and I could give him some of mine."

At first, the doctor was very hesitant to do this since he wasn't sure it would match, but Amy persisted, saying, "Please, you have to test me. I need to know if my blood type is a match."

At this point, the doctor heavily sighed, replying with reluctance, "Very well then. I'll have a nurse take a sample of your blood."

"Thank you, sir." Amy said with a sniffle.

"Although," the doctor added firmly, "should you end up being a match, I do want to warn you that you may have to give more blood than your body needs in order for you to live on as well. You could serious repercussions from this. Are you sure you want to take this risk?

Amy instantly nodded without any hesitation, replying, "You bet I am. If it means Sonic will be able to live and recover, I'm more than willing to risk my life in order to save his."

After hearing that, the doctor didn't try to talk her out of it any longer, saying, "Ok then. A nurse will be with you shortly."

He then began to walk out, saying, "Anyway, I have a few rounds to make unfortunately. If anything serious changes in Sonic's vital signs, don't hesitate the hit the code red button near his bed. I'll come right back should that happen"

Amy again nodded her head, as the doctor soon left the room to do his job.

Once he was out of sight, Cream commented to Amy, "You're really brave to want to give most of your blood to Mr. Sonic."

Amy though didn't answer her, as the young rabbit asked a split second later, "Aren't you scared at all what could happen if they do take a lot of your blood?"

Amy quickly shook her head no, replying, "No, I'm perfectly content with it. If I die, then at least I will die doing something for the one I love most."

While Cream admired her courage, she said to the pink hedgehog, "I understand why you want to do this, but I don't want to lose you either. You're my special friend."

"I know…" Deep down though, Amy was scared inside, as she didn't want to die either, especially not before she could get a chance for her and Sonic to become closer as friends.

A minute later, the nurse finally came in and took a sample of Amy's blood from her left arm, where she then walked out to test its type in another room

During that time of waiting, Amy soon became very nervous, thinking to herself, _I sure hope my blood type matches Sonic. I don't know what I'll do if it doesn't._

Moments later, she added, _but, if I am a match, will it be enough to save Sonic's life? And, will there be enough to keep me alive too?_

Another minute soon passed, as the same nurse came back in, saying, "Well, Miss Rose, I have good news to tell you."

"What is it?" Amy asked, now standing up.

"Your blood type is a match for Sonic's." she told her.

Amy's emotional state immediately went from fear to joy, as she asked, "You mean… I'll be able to help save Sonic's life now?"

"Well, not entirely." The nurse explained hesitantly.

"What do you mean?" Amy inquired concerned.

"Well, what I'm trying to say is, your blood wasn't a 100% match," the nurse said.  
>"But it's just enough that we can give it try."<p>

"How much off was I?" Amy asked.

"Well, by about 5%." The nurse answered.

"Is 5% really that big of a big deal?" Amy asked with arched eyebrows.

"Not really." The nurse explained. "But I do have to warn you, there's a one in ten chance your blood will not mix with Sonic's, thus make things even worse for him."

Amy again gasped in horror after hearing that, as the nurse added, "I don't want to scare you, but I did want to warn you of this in case you wanted to back out of it now."

Amy though wasn't about to do that, quickly replying, "I can't back out of it now. I'm his only hope of surviving. I must do this."

The nurse thought of discussing this further with her, but decided not to, especially since she could sense the fierce determination to save Sonic's life.

The nurse then took a sigh, saying, "Very well then. Let's get started."

And with that statement, the nurse escorted Amy out of the room.

Cream meanwhile looked on deeply concerned, as Amy soon stopped to look at her before she stepped out of it completely, saying, "Keep an eye for Sonic for me, will you? I won't be able to for the time being."

At first, the young rabbit hesitated to answer her, but soon replied while nodding her head, "Sure thing, Amy."

Once she got Cream's answer, Amy continued her walk with the nurse.

As for Cream, she soon walked towards Sonic's bedside with a sigh, thinking while looking at him, _I can't believe Amy's actually going through with this… she really must love Mr. Sonic more than anyone to do something so dangerous._

While this had been going on, Kitty soon found herself in the fight for her life.

Metal Sonic soon came charging towards her at full speed with a spin dash attack, trying to blast her off the Egg Hawk.

Kitty however proved to be very resilient, as he evaded it with ease with a quick side step to the right.

Even so, the blue spiky robot quickly turned and tried it a second time.

But again, Kitty used her high agility to evade, now jumping over it.

After the second miss, Metal Sonic turned up the heat on her even further.

It then came at Kitty with everything it had. Metal Sonic not only attempted spin dashes, but flying roundhouse kicks and Knuckles' super punch as well.

In spite of its blistering assault, the feline agent continued to hold her ground, dodging every attack that came her, using every evasive tactic necessary to keep herself in one piece.

Eggman meanwhile looked on Metal Sonic's lack of efficiency with a big frown on his face.

_Can't that robot take her out already? _Eggman thought to himself. _This is getting ridiculous! _

Unfortunately for the mad doctor, Kitty soon showed once again why she was such a thorn in his side.

Two seconds later, Metal Sonic came at the feline agent with another flying roundhouse kick.

Kitty then shocked Eggman, as she carefully timed her approach and grabbed Metal Sonic by the foot he was trying to hit her with in one swoop, where she quickly body slammed the blue spiky robot onto the ground back and forth before it could get free.

Now seriously stunned, Kitty tossed Metal Sonic into the ocean in order to buy her some time and deal with Eggman appropriately.

Unfortunately for her though, Metal Sonic flew out of the ocean so quickly, Kitty couldn't even take five steps towards Eggman.

Kitty looked on dumb founded, as she couldn't believe how fast Eggman's robot had recovered.

Eggman on the other hand just sneered at this, saying to her, "You're going to do a lot more than that for Metal Sonic to be taken down, furball."

_I cannot believe how durable that robot is. _Kitty thought with a frown. _This is just beyond comprehension._

Moments later, Metal Sonic again came charging towards her.

_Ok, it's time I put this hunk of junk away for good. _Kitty thought with fierce determination.

Again, Metal Sonic came at her with another spin dash, but failed, as Kitty moved out of the way at the last second.

Metal Sonic however kept up the intensity, quickly turning around not even three seconds later, now trying to level her with another flying roundhouse kick.

Even so, Kitty again evaded its attack, ducking underneath it.

Metal Sonic then tried Knuckle's super punch, only to have the same results as before… failure.

Finally, it tried a screw kick, which put Eggman on edge, as he didn't know how if his Hawk could handle it.

Kitty on the other hand kept her composure, thinking with a grin, _I got you now…_

Instantly, Kitty grabbed her final grenade from her pocket and placed it on the ground in front of her.

Seeing the angle it was coming at towards her, the feline agent placed it in a spot she figured it would more than like hit.

Sure enough, Metal Sonic connected with the core of the grenade, causing it to explode on contact.

Metal Sonic was slightly knocked backwards as a result of the blast, sending it to the ground, again stunned.

_You gotta be kidding me! _Eggman thought in disbelief. _How did she pull that off?_

Eggman unfortunately didn't get to ponder this for long, as Kitty grabbed Metal Sonic by its right leg, now dragging it over to one of the wings with the propellers in order to toss it in.

By this time, Eggman was completely fed up inside, muttering to himself, "I guess I have to do everything myself."

Within two seconds, Kitty was in position to toss it in.

Eggman however wasn't about to let do that, as he soon rocked the Egg Hawk back and forth with the controls to try and get her off balance.

Since he had strongly jerked on the wheel back and forth, the feline agent unfortunately could not keep her balance and soon fell the ground, landing on her chest, as well as losing her grip on Metal Sonic.

Eggman then moved the controls towards the right in an attempt to have Kitty fall in the propeller.

However, Kitty kept her resolve and fought valiantly, as she tightly grabbed onto the side of the wing to keep herself from falling in.

Eggman would have continued to press towards the left, but soon saw it wasn't necessary, as he saw Metal Sonic quickly stand up and charge up a spin dash, directly aimed at her.

"Perfect…" Eggman said with a sneer. "Metal Sonic's got her this time."

Not wanting to interfere with his robot's attack, Eggman put his aircraft back at the standard level.

Kitty meanwhile soon noticed this too, which at first perplexed her.

Nevertheless, with Metal Sonic charging up from behind, the feline agent realized she had to get some distance between her and it in order to evade its devastating attack.

Kitty then ran towards the middle of the plane, where Metal Sonic finally finished charging up, blasting towards her.

Kitty barely got out of harm's way, as she dove to the ground a split second before it came at her from behind.

In spite of this miss, Metal Sonic kept the pressure on her, as it soon turned around and tried the same attack again within seconds.

Again, Kitty evaded it, jumping over the attack when it came close to her.

Eggman soon saw the same pattern from before, making him mutter to himself, "Oh, no you don't. You're not going outleap your way out of this one, feline."

At that moment, Eggman threw another curveball at Kitty, where he again rocked the Egg Hawk back and forth in order to knock her off balance.

Since Kitty was so busy concentrating on Metal Sonic's attack, she didn't have a chance to react, as she again quickly lost her footing and fell to the ground chest first.

Kitty tough quickly got up and looked around the Hawk for Metal Sonic.

Unfortunately for her, the blue spiky robot soon came charging up from behind with another spin dash attack.

By the time she saw it, Metal Sonic was within ten feet and closing in at an alarming rate.

Seeing it coming in low, Kitty again attempted to jump over to try and evade the attack.

Sadly, she couldn't leap high enough, as Metal Sonic's spin dash got a piece of her lower right leg, making her flip end over end.

Within moments, she hit the ground, this time back first. Unlike the last fall, the feline agent hit the ground a lot harder this time, really putting a strain on her back.

Nevertheless, Kitty wasn't about to quit, as she willed herself to get up in spite of the pain.

She soon stood up again and prepared to keep fighting.

Unfortunately for her, Metal Sonic had other ideas.

Not even two seconds after she stood up, the blue spiky robot blind-sided her with a well-executed spin dash to her lower back, knocking her to the ground a third time with brute force.

Thankfully for Kitty, she had worn padding around that area to protect her ailing ribs. Nevertheless, the feline agent still felt the effects of being hit that hard.

By now, her ribs began to feel sore from all the recent hits, making that area of hers strongly ache when she tried to stand up again.

Even so, Kitty was nothing short of a warrior. She valiantly fought through the pain, forcing herself to stand up and press on.

"You're wasting your time, Agent Katswell!" Eggman cackled at her. "Metal Sonic is going to make cat food out of you soon enough and there ain't a thing you can do to stop him."

_That's what you think, Doctor. _Kitty thought to herself. _I'll show you I can get the job, even now._

Sadly, Kitty's words would end up being hollow.

When Metal Sonic came at her four seconds later with yet another spin dash, she again saw him coming in low.

_This thing's attack pattern is becoming way too predictable now. _Kitty thought to herself.

She then bent her knees and prepared to jump.

When it was within five feet of her, Kitty leaped into the air as high as could to leap over it again.

This time however, Metal Sonic had gotten wise to this evasive tactic and made her heavily pay for it.

A split second after the feline agent jumped into the air, Metal Sonic quickly changed direction, now heading upwards, aiming directly at her chest.

Kitty unfortunately had time no time to react to this sneak attack, as she was powerfully slammed in the lower chest.

Again, her padding cushioned the blow, but the pain of getting hit in the ribs nevertheless hurt tremendously.

To make things worse, Kitty was knocked into the air, again tumbling end over end.

Metal Sonic quickly took advantage of Kitty's predicament and added to her pain, where it soon flew into the air during her aerial tumble and then pummeled her, using her own martial arts kick aimed at her back.

Kitty was sent hurtling towards the Egg Hawk below, where she slammed hard onto its metal interior.

Due to hitting its surface chest first, Kitty instantly screamed in agony a second later, as the pain in her ribs began to hurt intensely.

Eggman on the other hand was cackling as hard as he could, loving every second of it.

"Ah, what's the matter, Kitty Katswell?" Eggman taunted. "Is the pain too much for you to handle now?"

While Eggman's taunts angered her to no end, the pain of her ribs sadly overshadowed that.

She then thought heavily wincing, _Ah, man… I think Metal Sonic broke my lower ribs._

Kitty wouldn't get to think about this long, as Metal Sonic soon came swooping in and attempted to finish her off, picking her up by her shirt and then putting a strong grasp around her neck.

With her lower chest hurting profusely, Kitty was helpless to do much to fight back.

Metal Sonic then slowly but surely began to squeeze around her neck tightly, cutting off her air supply.

Eggman again laughed heartily at her predicament, saying icily, "Looks like you finally lose, Agent Katswell." Eggman had said her name with as much mockery in his voice as he could muster.

Kitty nevertheless struggled to find a way out of this, but soon realized it was futile. She just could not get free, especially with broken ribs heavily afflicting her.

"Enough stalling, Metal Sonic." Eggman ordered. "Break her neck already and toss her dead carcass to me when you're finished."

"NO!" a voice shouted from a distance.

Eggman turned her head to the right, making him look on dumbfounded.

"What the…?"

There, he saw who had shouted earlier, none other than the two tailed fox himself.

"Him again?" Eggman said dumbfounded. "You gotta be kidding me!"

Eggman then watched in disbelief, as Tails activated the mecha feet on his X-Tornado, where he quickly slammed them into Metal Sonic as hard as he could.

Tails thankfully had used such a precision and accuracy when he attacked, he was able to pull this move off without harming the feline agent in the process.

Instantly, Metal Sonic was sent flying high into the air, as Tails had timed his shot to absolute perfection.

"No way! I don't believe this!" Eggman shouted, putting his hands on his head in horror.

"Believe it, Eggman!" Tails shot back with anger, now opening his canopy.

Tails then looked over at Kitty with deep concern, who was now slumped on the floor next to his X-Tornado, holding her lower chest while still heavily wincing.

"Kitty…" Tails instantly glared at Eggman, shouting at him while pointing in his face, "I'm going to make your demise an extremely painful one for this, you sicko!"

Eggman at first was taken aback by the two tailed fox's words, but soon regained his composure, retorting, "Ha, you don't have what it takes to kill me, fox boy."

At that moment, Tails gritted his teeth and prepared to use his jet in order to punish the mad doctor.

Kitty meanwhile looked up, seeing a familiar foe heading back towards them, saying as strong as she could muster, "Tails… look… out."

"Huh? Did you say something, Kitty?"

Realizing she couldn't talk strong enough for him to hear, Kitty then pointed her finger ahead, where Tails soon saw what was she trying to warn him about.

"That thing is back already?" Tails muttered with disgust. "Doesn't matter… I'm going to crush that robot of Eggman's once and for all this time!"

"Tails, wait…" Kitty said, trying to stand up.

Tails though wouldn't be delayed any longer. He instantly ignited the engines while the mecha feet were still, again using them to attack the blue spiky robot.

Once Metal Sonic saw Tails coming at him with his jet, he quickly spun into a ball to try and ram it again.

"Oh, no you don't!" Tails shouted, pulling back on the throttle. "You're not going to ram me this time!"

Tails then did something very risky in order to win the head to head battle… he put the jet on full speed on both engines.

Tails knew deep down this could backfire, but he was that determined to win the battle.

Thankfully for him, he did. Due to his increased velocity, Tails out rammed Metal Sonic, again sending him flying into the air with his mecha feet.

Even then, Tails still wasn't done with the blue spiky robot. He then opened his canopy after briefly landing on the ground, where he pointed a finger at Eggman from his right hand, declaring boldly, "After I'm done trashing Metal Sonic, I'm coming after you next!"

And with that statement, Tails ignited the engines and took off.

Needless to say, Eggman wasn't that intimated about it, especially since he felt confident Metal Sonic would trash the X-Tornado instead of visa versa.

Seconds later, Eggman glanced over at Kitty, who was still trying to get up and catch her breath.

Seeing a golden opportunity, the mad doctor walked over to her, now putting the Egg Hawk on auto pilot.

He then said with a chuckle while he walked, "Well, well, well, so the mighty Agent Katswell has finally been brought to her knees. How fitting…"

Kitty though ignored his jab as Eggman added, "You know… for someone's who played such a vital role in having my base destroyed, I thought you would rise to occasion yet again. On the other hand, since you went up against my powerful Metal Sonic robot, I guess you finally met your match."

During his bantering, Kitty finally was able to sit up on one leg, using the other to lean her knee against.

Eggman meanwhile brought out his spear gun again and said while clutching it with both hands, "Just stay down, feline, and I promise I will make your end as painless as possible."

Kitty however refused to even entertain such a choice, as she then abruptly stood up, pain and all, glaring at the mad doctor.

Eggman at first was a bit perplexed by this, but added with a huff, "So, you refuse to let go of your stubbornness even now? Why don't you get a clue, agent Katswell? It's over. You and that meddlesome fox will soon be finished off for daring to try and stop my get away."

"Just keep underestimating me, Doctor." Kitty shot back, still clutching her lower chest with her left hand while breathing heavily. "You've done it so far, so why stop now?"

"Enough talk." Eggman said with a frown. "I'm putting to an end to your escapades here and now."

Kitty instantly glared at him, daring the mad doctor, "Make your move, Eggman. Show me how just how competent of a villain you really are."

While this was going on, Tails aerial battle with Metal Sonic was now in full swing.

Tails during this flew after the blue spiky robot, trying to slam it again with his X-Tornado's mecha feet.

This time though, Metal Sonic would not be hit.

It instead moved to the right, as it hit the X-Tornado's outer shell near the cockpit with a spin dash, instantly putting a big dent in it.

Tails even felt the jarring effects of the attacks, where he soon said while gritting his teeth, "All right, robot, you want to play games? Then we'll play!"

Tails then pulled back on the throttle, putting his jet at the max speed it could go safely.

To no one's surprise, Metal Sonic followed after the X-Tornado, trying again to damage it.

At first, the two tailed fox attempted use his aerial prowess to try and outsmart the blue spiky robot in order to sneak attack it from behind.

However, Metal Sonic would not easily be tricked.

Whenever Tails tried an aerial move to get some separation, Metal Sonic closed back in within seconds.

This soon went on for over twenty seconds with the same results. To make matters worse, Metal Sonic continued to slam against the outer shell of Tails' jet whenever it got close enough to, frustrating him to no end.

"All right, let's see you try to dodge this." Tails said, gritting his teeth.

The two tailed fox then waited until Metal Sonic again got alongside his jet. Once it was in the right position, he quickly reacted with a quick and abrupt 360, slamming Metal Slam with his wings.

Instantly, Metal Sonic plummeted to the ocean below, plunging underneath it.

"So much for that bot." Tails commented with a firm grin on his face. "Now to deal with Eggman."

Unfortunately for two tailed fox, he made the same mistake as Kitty, as Metal Sonic quickly flew out of the ocean, chasing fiercely after the X-Tornado.

Not even halfway back, the X-Tornado's computer system sent him an alert about the blue spiky robot closing in and fast.

Tails quickly turned his head back, and there he looked on in disbelief, exclaiming, "What do I have to do to get this annoying robot of Eggman's off my back?"

Seeing it close in more and more every second, Tails prepared to deal with it appropriately.

"All right, if this robot is determined to tail me, then I'll use that to my advantage." Tails stated boldly.

Back on the Egg Hawk, Kitty and Eggman soon stared each other down, daring the other to attack first.

For the next ten seconds, neither of them budged.

Kitty then realized she was going to have to make the first move in order to deal with Eggman appropriately.

_I know just what to do. _Kitty thought firmly.

In spite of the pain in her chest, the feline agent vowed to not let that slow her down.

Within a split second, Kitty pretended to charge towards Eggman in order to get him to bite.

As she thought, he did.

Once she ran towards him, Eggman instantly fired his spear gun at her chest to impale her.

Kitty however was ready for it, as she quickly slid in feet first like a baseball player, where she then tripped him up on the ground.

While Eggman attempted to get up, Kitty grabbed the rope of his spear gun, instantly slashing it with her claws to pieces, where she then tossed the butt end of it backwards afterwards.

Eggman to say the least was very angry, saying with a growl, "Very clever, but I'm not out of tricks yet!"

The mad doctor was true to his word, as he tried to inflict more pain in Kitty's chest since he had figured out by now she was injured in that area.

Again and again, he tried to punch Kitty in her mid-section, but failed.

Kitty, who couldn't move without pain residing there, nonetheless evaded the punches, as she side stepped them, ducked underneath, even back flipped a few feet away.

Despite his misses, Eggman kept the heat on her, trying as hard as he could to connect.

Kitty though was still able to keep herself out of harm's way, thanks to her high agility.

After this went on for over twenty five seconds, Kitty decided to fight back, even though she was very reluctant to for fear of making her injuries worse.

A split second later, Eggman attempted another cross punch, and it was there she finally countered, grabbing his arm firmly with her right and then punching him hard underneath his chin.

Eggman instantly recoiled backwards, as Kitty now went on the Offensive.

She then punched hard him in the face with her right hand, hit him in the chest with her left, where she finally leveled the mad doctor with a spinning roundhouse kick to his forehead.

Eggman quickly hit the ground flat on his seriously stunned, groaning slightly.

Kitty meanwhile, as she feared soon winced a bit while clutching her lower chest, as attempting all those moves inflicted small amounts of pain.

However, she wouldn't have anytime to worry about this, as Eggman quickly stood and charged towards her, trying to hit her hard in the chest again with his fists.

Unfortunately for him, that move of his would end up backfiring big time.

Kitty methodically bided her time and waited until he was close enough. Once he was, the feline grabbed his right arm after he went to swing his fists, where she then body slammed him to the ground in one quick swoop.

Again, attempting this move put more strain on her broken ribs, making her groan after it was done.

Even so, Kitty knew she had to finish him off and soon. The longer she let him stay in the battle, the greater chances of Eggman inflicting more harm to her ribs.

She then waited until Eggman attempted to get up, and there she pounced with fury the split second he did, hitting him with another flying kick to his face.

Eggman again staggered backwards from the kick, but wouldn't have any time to recover, as Kitty unloaded every move she knew to put him away, kicking him in the face, kicking him in the chest, even taking a shot at his legs.

With every kick, Eggman continued to stagger backwards.

Kitty soon saw the back of the plane up ahead, and there she decided to try and kick him off the Egg Hawk in order to ruin any chances he had to counterattacking.

However, Kitty's latest kick wasn't enough to do the job, as Eggman fell three short of falling off, landing on the tail, groaning loudly.

Kitty by this time could barely tolerate the pain in her chest, as each kick inflicted more and more agony.

She then said trying to fight through it while breathing heavily, "It's over, Eggman. Metal Sonic isn't here to bail you out this time, so just give it up already."

Not surprisingly, Eggman just glared at her in complete defiance, not even replying one word in response.

Seeing he wasn't about to go quietly, Kitty declared, "All right then, since you won't cooperate, I'm going to knock you off into the ocean. Let's see try and weasel your way out of that one."

Unfortunately for the feline agent though, Kitty would make her move too soon, as she failed to notice a certain weapon of Eggman's lying on the ground near him.

Once Kitty attempted to throw him off, Eggman quickly grabbed the butt end of the spear and thrusted it at her right side.

Kitty sadly could not react quickly enough after she saw him try to stick her with it, as part of the sharp end stabbed her quickly, putting a moderate sized wound there, which began to bleed.

Instantly, Kitty flinched, staggering backwards, as she was in a bit of shock by what just happened.

Eggman however went on the assault, trying to impale her with it this time.

Kitty though was able to see it coming before he could, as she grabbed the weapon with her hand before he could stab her again.

Soon, both of them struggled in a grappling match, trying to push the other back.

During their struggle, the pain in her chest again began to rise dramatically, making it harder for the feline agent to keep her focus.

Seeing no other option, Kitty instantly used her knee to hit him in the gut.

Eggman instantly recoiled from the hit, trying to keep his balance.

Kitty meanwhile charged towards him, leveling the mad doctor with a round house to the face. This in turn caused Eggman to drop the butt end of the spear due to the abrupt and strong attack.

And as a result, it rolled off the Egg Hawk and into the ocean.

While Eggman was on the ground, groaning in pain, Kitty checked the seriousness of her recent wound. As it turned out, it was more serious than she previously thought.

While none of her arteries had been cut, her wound began to bleed a bit profusely, making her deeply concerned.

_Ah, just when I think I can't get any more injured, _Kitty thought with a weak sigh._ Eggman does this to me… _

Moments later, Kitty looked for the X-Tornado in the air, as she was also worried about Tails' safety in battling with Metal Sonic.

Unfortunately for her, she would soon have bigger problems to worry about.

Without warning, Eggman craftily snuck up from behind, where he then abruptly drilled her in the back of the head with a strong punch.

Kitty now hit the floor in a heap, soon clutching her chest again.

"I have had enough of you and your infuriating heroics." Eggman stated to her with a hiss in his voice. "You just don't know when to go down."

Kitty during this time tried to get back on her feet, but Eggman wasn't about to let her.

He quickly grabbed her by her neck of her shirt, where he quickly tossed towards the ground, trying to have her hit the ground chest first to inflict more pain to her broken ribs.

Kitty did indeed hit the ground, but back first instead.

Infuriated at his failed attempted, Eggman then attempted to take any remaining fight out of her, as he picked her up again, and began to punch her lower chest as hard as he could.

Kitty instantly cried out in pain, as each punch hurt worse than the previous one.

While he punched her, Eggman said between her screams with no mercy, "Tell me, Agent Katswell, was it worth it? Was coming after me such a smart move on your part now? HUH? WAS IT? ANSWER ME!"

Kitty unfortunately was in too much agony to answer him. To make matters worse, Kitty could feel he was breaking her lower ribs even further back, risking them puncturing her lungs. Even her right wound began to bleed more as well as a result of these attacks.

After this went on for thirty seconds, Eggman tossed her towards the right propeller of his Egg Hawk.

Once Kitty hit the ground, she clutched her chest again, now with tears forming in her eyes due to the extreme infliction she had just been dealt.

"You should have let sleeping dogs lie, furball!" Eggman declared angrily. "Had your minded your own business, you would have been spared all of this."

Kitty however was in too much pain to even pay attention to his bantering, as she continued to clutch her wound in order to stop the bleeding.

Seconds later, Eggman said to her after a pause, "but since you just had to butt in and play heroine, you will now pay the ultimate price!"

Eggman then grabbed her by her ankles and prepared to push her into the propeller in order to cut her to pieces.

Kitty meanwhile saw what he was trying to do, which soon snapped her to attention.

In that moment, even now in her great state of pain, she attempted to fight back.

Eggman however wasn't about to let her get out of this one, as he soon pushed her closer and closer towards the edge.

While this was going on, Tails finally came near the Egg Hawk again with Metal Sonic right behind him and closing in.

"Ok, I've got one shot." The two tailed fox stated, taking with a deep breath. "I can't let Kitty down."

Tails then flew towards the Egg Hawk and attempted to have his wings in the spot in order for him to attack it.

As for Metal Sonic, he soon closed in right behind, where he then flew towards the left side of the jet to try and damage it further.

Unfortunately for Tails, Eggman's robot was on wrong side, thus negating his chances for a successful strike, forcing him to loop around and try again.

Metal Sonic however kept pace with Tails' jet, as it soon closed in yet again.

Once it was close enough, Metal Sonic instantly attacked, ramming the left side of the X-Tornado, denting the outer shell of it in even further.

Tails instantly responded to its attacks by ramming it right back, as he veered his jet right into Metal Sonic.

Metal Sonic was quickly knocked back several feet, slightly stunning it.

Tails quickly took advantage of this, as he pushed up and to the left on the controls.

Nevertheless, Metal Sonic regained its focus within two seconds and gave chase yet again.

By this time, Tails saw him coming, realizing it was now or never.

"C'mon, you metal monster." Tails dared. "Just try and fly on my right side."

But again, Metal Sonic did not attack from that angle.

Instead, it now attempted to damage his jet engines from behind.

"Where is that thing already?" Tails demanded with frustration, looking to the left and right.

Moments later, he soon discovered where he was, as his onboard computer began to flash another warning of damage to the engine components.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Tails shouted in disgust, looking behind. "That thing's after my jet engines now?"

Soon, Tails saw the fire coming out of the right jet engine, this time worse than before.

As it turned out, Metal Sonic had clinged to the top of it and used Knuckles' super punch to heavily damage it.

Now infuriated, Tails said to himself with rage while gritting his teeth, "Ok, bot, you want to play rough, then we'll do it."

Instantly, the two tailed dive bombed towards the ocean, where he plunged towards while doing a 180.

Metal Sonic during this time was able to hang on, that is until the rear of the jet hit the ocean waters with intense speed. Instantly, Metal Sonic was flung off due to the high velocity, where it bounced on top of the water like a pebble stone.

Tails knew this was would be a big risk, but knew Metal Sonic would bring down the X-Tornado if he didn't take drastic measures.

Thankfully, this maneuver put out the fire like before. Nonetheless, it caused a big problem, as the X-Tornado quickly hiccupped due to the excessive water in the engine intake.

Immediately, the X-Tornado started to descend, as the engines began to heavily sputter.

"No, don't quit on me now." Tails pleaded, trying to stabilize it. "C'mon, X-Tornado, I need you."

Fortunately for the two tailed fox, it recovered in time, as the engines finally regained enough power to continue.

Tails then took a deep sigh of relief, saying to his jet, "Thanks, bud. Now, let's finish this."

And with that statement Tails soon got his jet in position towards Eggman's aircraft.

Not surprisingly, Metal Sonic soon gave chase once more after shaking off being flung from the X-Tornado.

Tails again kept watch from behind during this time, and there he saw the blue spiky robot coming up from behind.

This time though, he was ready for it, saying, "Just try that move on me again, bot. I'll make you regret it."

Like before, Metal Sonic attempted to get close enough and wreak havoc on his jet engines.

But when it did, Tails quickly countered it by moving his jet to the left.

As he had thought, Metal Sonic was over pursuing and ended flying right past the engines, now on his right side.

Even so, Metal Sonic kept its assault up, now trying to punch a hole in Tails' cockpit with its spin dash in order to get to him.

Thankfully for the two tailed fox, he was within seconds of being in the position he was shooting for from before.

However, with the blue spiky robot ramming his right side again and again as hard as it could, Tails soon noticed the dent was becoming very large, almost to the point it was caving in and bursting.

Tails at first began to panic a bit inside, but soon composed himself, saying boldly, "C'mon, Tails, don't lose courage. Kitty is counting on you."

The two tailed fox fortunately strengthened himself with those words, as he now buckled down and prepared to finish what he started.

Back on the Egg Hawk, Eggman pushed Kitty closer and closer to the edge, saying, "You know, I recently wanted to make a fur coat from your freshly squeezed carcass as my personal trophy."

He then added with a devious grin, "But… I've changed my mind. You being cut to pieces for shark bait is good enough for me."

Kitty during this time paid no attention to his vile words, as she fought as hard as she could to keep her ground.

However, with her ribs heavily sore and her body losing blood from her recent wound, she began to lose strength, now starting to feel lightheaded.

Moments later, Eggman saw the X-Tornado fly nearby with Metal Sonic right beside it.

Eggman then unwisely decided to taunt the feline agent further, saying while pointing the sky, "Take one last look at that jet, furball. It won't be much longer before Metal Sonic brings it down and finishes off your pathetic little fox friend."

Again, Kitty paid little attention to his words, but still felt very afraid for Tails, as she didn't know what would happen next.

Tails meanwhile was now right where we wanted to be, now guiding his jet in the exact spot.

However, with Metal Sonic ramming his jet again and again, the two tailed fox knew he had to get Metal Sonic in the right spot too or his plan would fail.

With his targeted space now less than twenty feet ahead, Tails shouted with complete vigor, "This is for you, Kitty!"

And with that statement, Tails moved his jet towards the left to ram Metal Sonic in order to stun him.

At the same time, Metal Sonic was in the process of ramming the jet again, as the dent was now to the point of breaking open.

Nevertheless, Tails rammed Metal Sonic towards the left propeller as hard as he could, again stunning it.

Then, in one quick swoop, Tails did a 360, slamming the blue spiky robot towards the Egg Hawk below.

While this was going on, Eggman again taunted her, saying with a grin, "I hope you're proud of yourself, Agent Katswell. Not only will your reckless heroics cost you your life, but Tails as well."

Kitty again kept her silence, as Eggman added, "Let that thought haunt you in the afterlife, as his friends won't think very highly of you once they find out. No… instead, they'll say you were…"

Eggman could not finish that thought, as at that exact moment, Metal Sonic violently crashed into the Egg Hawk, hitting the left propeller head first.

This time, Metal Sonic would not bounce back to fight again.

Instantly, the left propeller gradually cut him to pieces, resulting in a huge explosion from it, as well as the propeller.

Eggman's facial expressions changed in a heartbeat, as he was in complete disbelief. "NO WAY!" he shouted in horror. "That fox brat destroyed Metal Sonic? IMPOSSIBLE!"

Unfortunately for the mad doctor, it was not only possible, but was happening before his very eyes. To make matters worse, the left wing soon caught fire as a result of the explosion from the left propeller.

Kitty now saw her opportunity to strike, as she took full advantage of Eggman taking his eyes off of her. Instantly, she kicked him hard in the gut, heavily stunning him.

Wanting to pay him back for all the recent abuse he had given her, Kitty hit the mad doctor with a half dozen martial arts kicks, leveling him soon enough with another 360 roundhouse kick.

Despite the pain caused by each kick attempted, the feline agent pressed on, now running on pure adrenaline.

Immediately, Eggman hit the ground, as her kicks took the wind out of him.

Kitty then towered over him, saying loudly, "Now, what was that about Metal Sonic killing Tails?"

Eggman during this time didn't answer her, as her kicks had really hit him hard.

"Your stupidity never ceases to amaze me, Eggman." Kitty stated firmly. "You just don't know when to quit bragging when you you're ahead."

"I'll… get you… for this…" Eggman replied, clutching his stomach while glaring at her.

"Save it, you sicko." Kitty retorted with a frown. "You're through now."

Moments later, Tails came onto her radio, asking, "Kitty, are you all right?"

"Yea, I'm fine now." Kitty replied weakly with a smile. "Thanks to you…"

Tails of course couldn't help but smile back, as he loved any compliment from her.

"So, what do we do now?" Tails asked her.

"Well, I'd like to deep six this plane of his," Kitty answered with a sigh. "But, I don't know if I have any more weapons left to use."

"Hold on, let me check something." Tails said after a brief pause.

At first, the feline agent was perplexed by what he was talking, but then found out, as Tails shouted with glee, "Kitty! I have good news. You still have one C-4 explosive left in your weapons bag!"

"Really? I guess it must have slipped my mind after all that's happened." Kitty stated with a sigh of relief. She then said, "Quick, hand it over to me ASAP."

"But how do I do that while flying my aircraft?" Tails asked with puzzlement.

"Simple, let it drop." Kitty explained. "I'll catch it."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Tails inquired with concern. "What if it falls into the ocean?"

"Trust me." Kitty told him. "Just drop it once you're ahead of the Egg Hawk and I'll snag it."

"Well, if you say so…" Tails said with hesitance in his voice.

Tails then flew the X-Tornado ahead of the Egg Hawk, where quickly dropped the C-4 below about twenty five feet above.

As she had thought, the explosive fell towards the middle of the plane, and that is where she was standing.

Once it came towards her, Kitty jumped into the air and caught it in her hands with ease.

"I got it!" Kitty told Tails over his radio.

"Well done." Tails replied with a smile. "You never fail to come through in the clutch."

"There will be plenty of time for compliments later." Kitty reiterated. "Right now, I need to hook this thing up to the underside of the plane from the rear."

"Why the rear?" Tails explained.

"Since this C-4 packs a wallop, I'm betting the explosion topples the plane over, knocking it upside down." Kitty explained.

"I get it…" Tails said. "It'll knock Eggman off into the water, making it easy for us to apprehend him."

"You got it." Kitty replied. "Anyway, land the X-Tornado on the Egg Hawk in the meantime so I can get onboard right away."

"Will do." Tails answered. "See you soon."

Kitty then ran towards the rear of the Egg Hawk as fast as her body would allow, preparing to attach the bomb to the underside.

Before she did though, she looked back to see where Eggman was. Surprisingly, she saw him heading towards the cockpit, making her arch her eyebrows, thinking, _what is that madman up to now?_

Nevertheless, she quickly, but methodically attached the bomb in the designated spot with a magnetic clip on, where she soon said after wiping her brow, "There, done. Now to wait for Tails and…"

Kitty couldn't finish that sentence, as the Egg Hawk again began to rock back and forth, making her lose her balance and fall to the ground.

To makes things worse, Kitty almost fell off, as she clinged tightly the tail of the Egg Hawk.

"Kitty!" Tails quickly saw she was in trouble and quickly flew to her aid.

Meanwhile, Eggman soon walked over to the feline agent during her predicament, saying with an evil chuckle, "Here, let me give you a hand."

In quick swoop, Eggman used his right foot to try and shove her off of the Egg Hawk.

Kitty though thankfully held on with both of her hands, though her grip was begging to slip.

Even worse, the remote detonator pocket fell out of her pocket, forcing her to grab it with her right hand, now leaving her with only one hand on the Egg Hawk.

Eggman then smirked at her again, saying, "You know, you're a big hypocrite of your own words, Agent Katswell. You should have dealt with me first before dealing with my Egg Hawk."

Kitty knew deep down he was right, but wasn't about to show that to him.

He soon added with a fierce glare, "I've got to hand it to you two… you actually destroyed my secret weapon and left me defenseless."

Kitty during time was struggling mightily to hang on, as the pain in her chest was beginning to return with a vengeance.

"Even so…!" Eggman declared vehemently. "I won't let you take me alive! I've already got my escape plans down to the T, and you won't be stopping them from coming to fruition… not this time!"

Seconds later, Tails finally came flying in from behind, shouting in her radio, "Kitty, let go! I'll catch you!"

Eggman, who now saw the X-Tornado, said, "Just do yourself a favor, feline, and let go. After all, do you really want to risk losing your life, trying to take me prisoner?"

Kitty now struggled within herself, trying to make up her mind of what to do.

Tails again got on the radio, saying with deep concern in his voice, "Kitty, please, I'm begging you, let go before you get yourself killed. We can deal with Eggman once you're safe."

By this time, the feline agent reluctantly decided to comply, replying to Tails, "Very well… have the nose of the jet directly below me when I let go so I can grab a hold of it."

"Roger." Tails answered.

Eggman, who had overheard Kitty's words, said to her with a grin, "Good girl. I guess you're not as stupid as I thought."

Tails meanwhile got the jet in position to catch Kitty, but Eggman had other ideas.

"Allow me to give you a send off so you can be on your way." He said, raising his foot to stomp on it.

Kitty quickly gasped, as she knew Eggman was trying to have it so would fall too soon and hit the water, maybe even slam into the X-Tornado which would injure further.

Within a split second, Eggman went to stomp, but Kitty moved her hand out of the way towards the left.

Again, Eggman tried to stomp, but missed a second time.

Finally, after a third miss, Tails was in the right position, shouting, "Kitty, let go, now!"

"I'm going to smash your hand whether you like it or not, furball!" Eggman shouted with rage a split second later.

With the X-Tornado now in place, Kitty let go of the Egg Hawk before he could stomp on her left hand, now landing securely on the X-Tornado.

Once she was there, Tails instantly slowed his jet down dramatically in order to keep from falling off of the nose.

Eggman meanwhile had mixed emotions. While he was happy Kitty was no longer on his aircraft, he still wanted to make her suffer more.

"Well, at least she won't be activating that bomb." Eggman muttered to himself with a chuckle.

Eggman couldn't have been more wrong about that.

In spite of the fact Kitty hit the nose a bit abruptly, she had a near death grip on the remote detonator, where she soon shouted to Tails, "Get higher in the air! We've got to get out of the blast range, pronto!"

"Right."

Tails quickly followed her instructions, as he soon lifted the X-Tornado fifty feet into the air.

Kitty during this time, tried as hard as she could to hang on to the X-Tornado's nose, as even at a slower speed, it was very difficult.

After Tails stopped ascending, Kitty put the remote detonator in front of her face, saying firmly once it was there, "Adios, Eggman…"

And with that statement, she pressed the button with her thumb, activating the C-4 explosive.

Eggman meanwhile heard the thing beep several times underneath, putting him on edge.

"No way! You mean she still had that detonator in her possession?"

Eggman instantly ran towards the other side of the Egg Hawk, as he knew what was coming next.

Three seconds later though, the C-4 explosive finally detonated, resulting in a huge explosion.

As Kitty had thought, the explosion was large enough that is slowly tipped the Egg Hawk over.

Within moments, it tilted upside down while in midair, soon crashing violently into the ocean waters below.

Kitty and Tails watched the scene intently, as a huge wave soon splashed up as a result of the collision

Then, three seconds later, the ocean waves quickly settled back down, with the Egg Hawk coming to a stop.

"Is… it over?" Tails asked anxiously.

Kitty watched to see any movement from Eggman, as the Egg Hawk had crashed on top of him after it hit the ocean.

However, to both of their shock, the Egg Hawk then abruptly began to short circuit fervently, where it then exploded due to all the damage before, causing metal pieces to fly everywhere.

"Tails, look out!" Kitty exclaimed.

With several metal pieces headed straight for them, the two tailed quickly ascended into the air to evade it.

Unfortunately though in the process, he had ascended too quickly, causing Kitty to fall off of the nose.

"Kitty!"

Tails quickly looked around the side to see if she had fallen off to the ocean waters below.

Thankfully though, Kitty was able to grab a hold of one of the wings near the cockpit with both of her hands, losing the remote detonator in the process.

Tails then opened the canopy to try and pull her in, saying, "Grab a hold of my hand, Kitty."

In spite of the wind resistance dangers to his eyes, the two tailed fox was determined to save her by any means necessary.

Kitty, who was now very weak inside from the loss of blood and painful ribs, didn't have to think twice about it, as she grabbed a hold his hands as fast as she could.

Once she clutched both of her hands in his, Tails tried to pull her in, using every bit of his strength to do so.

At first, the two tailed fox struggled to pull her in due to the feline agent being heavier than him. Nevertheless, he refused to quit, as he continued to pull and pull as hard and effortlessly he could.

Five seconds later, Tails finally succeeded. Using one big tug from both of his shoulders in a last ditch effort, Kitty was able to get close enough to the cockpit, where she then quickly climbed inside of it.

Moments later, the two of them caught their breaths, as Tails stated while gasping for air after closing the canopy, "Man, that was a close one."

He quickly turned to Kitty, who was still breathing heavy, asking, "You ok?"

Kitty, who was clutching her chest tightly due to her broken ribs, replied trying to act tough, "Yea, I'm fine. Thanks for saving me."

"Anytime." Tails replied with a smile.

A split second however, he noticed the color on her right side, exclaiming with shock, "Kitty, you're bleeding!"

"Don't worry about me. I'll be ok." Kitty reiterated weakly. "Just check to see if Eggman has surfaced by now."

Tails quickly nodded his head and steered his jets towards the wreckage, looking for any signs of life.

To both of their surprise, there was none, not even a bit of movement from the metal pieces in the ocean.

"Anything yet?" Kitty asked.

"No… nothing." Tails answered with a sigh.

"Are you sure about that?" Kitty asked firmly.

"Yes, completely." Tails replied. "I don't see any sign of Eggman anywhere.

"Circle the area for about ten minutes." Kitty instructed. "We have to be sure."

"Roger."

Tails did as he was told, circling around the wreckage within a five hundred yard range.

Soon, the ten minutes passed, with still no sign of Eggman in sight.

"I think he drowned, Kitty." Tails stated. "There's no way he could hold his breath this long."

Kitty, who had been closely watching the ocean herself, soon realized it was futile to stay here any longer. So, she said with a sigh, "Very well. Take us home, Tails. We need to check on Sonic now anyway."

Tails quickly nodded his head, as he turned around the jet and headed back for Central City.

On the way back, the two tailed stated with a sigh of relief, "Finally, it's over. Eggman's reign of terror is no more."

Kitty though wasn't fully sure of that just yet.

She muttered to herself five seconds later, "I can't believe it…"

"What's wrong?" Tails asked her confused.

"Ah, it's silly…" Kitty replied.

"No, tell me… I really want to know." He reiterated.

Sighing heavily in reluctance, she said to him, "It's just… I thought this time I would be able to have my closure concerning a super villain like Eggman. But… like Snaptrap before him… I have nothing to go on."

"Who's Snaptrap?" Tails inquired with arched eyebrows.

"A villain I fought before I came to G.U.N." Kitty explained. "He too disappeared without a trace. It was the strangest thing. To this day… I still wonder if he was killed or not."

"Oh…" Tails at this moment didn't know what to think concerning Snaptrap, but said to try and help her feel better, "Well, maybe a shark ate Eggman or something. That would explain him not surfacing, right?"

"It might… except there was no blood anywhere when we searched the wreckage." Kitty stated. "So, I doubt that happened."

By this time, Tails was at a loss for words about this, so he said in response, "Well, there's no point in speculating what we don't know. The point is, we defeated Eggman, and at the very least, he won't be bothering us for a while."

"I hope you're right about that." Kitty replied with a sigh. "I really do…"

A minute later, Tails looked back, where he saw Kitty sitting in her seat with her head down, placing a hand on her chin while leaning on her leg with her elbow, glancing out the window while sighing sadly.

He then put his right hand on top of her left knee, which abruptly got her attention, making the feline agent ask with arched eyebrows, "Is there a reason you have your hand there?"

At first, Tails blushed a bit, but soon replied, "Well, I just wanted to say… I'm truly honored that we had you as part of our team."

"Oh… um, don't mention it." Kitty mumbled softly a bit embarrassed. "I was just doing my job."

"No, it was a lot more than that." Tails reiterated with a smile, still having his hand on her leg. "You have no idea how huge of a huge role you played in bringing down Eggman's empire."

Kitty at this point realized Tails had a point in praising in her, as he added, "You know, when you said you were going to help me out, I never thought you would sacrifice so much just to see justice served. And for that, I couldn't be more proud to call you my friend."

Kitty's cheeks soon began to turn flushed red, saying with a mumble while looking at the ground, "Ah, stop it, Tails. You're making me blush now."

Tails though chuckled slightly at that response, "It's ok, I don't mind."

He then added while looking her in the eye, "Kitty, whether you want to admit or not, you're a way past cool person. Don't ever forget that."

After hearing his words, Kitty said to him, "Tails, there's something I need to tell you."

"Yea…?" Tails now looked at intently, wondering what she would say to him.

"I just want to say, that I do appreciate your kind words." Kitty stated.

"You're welcome." Tails replied.

"But…" Kitty added firmly. "I also hope you're not just saying these things because you like me a lot."

Tails almost did a double take, as he couldn't believe she had figured it out by now.

Nonetheless, Kitty said before he respond, "Honesty is really important to me, so unless you really mean those words, I think it would be best if you didn't keep saying them to me."

At first, Tails was slightly offended by her words, but soon replied firmly, "Kitty, I meant every word of it. And it's not because I like you alot. I really do think you're a special individual. You have brought an atmosphere to us during our time of despair that was nothing short of inspiring.

Kitty soon looked at him intently, as Tails reiterated while doing the same, "And it's for that reason why I'll say it this again to you. You really are way past cool, especially to me."

By now, Kitty couldn't help but flash a humble smile at him, saying softly, "Thanks, Tails. You're too sweet."

"Anytime, Kitty," Tails replied, smiling back at her. "Anytime…"

And with that statement, Tails turned back to focus on his flying.

Kitty meanwhile looked out the window, as a confrontation statement from Eggman soon crossed her mind.

_You killed her, didn't you?_

_Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. I'll never tell..._

She soon sighed heavily, thinking to herself, _Oh, Rouge… I sure hope you're still out there somewhere. I don't know how I'll break it to Topaz about your heroics if you're dead._

Moments later, Sonic's condition also crossed her mind, now thinking, _I guess I'll worry about her later. Right now, Sonic needs urgent help._

She then added, _Sonic, please don't die before we get there. If your condition is terminal… at least give us a chance to say goodbye._

Deep down, Kitty didn't want to think the worst about Sonic, but she knew it looked very bad before she left.

How much time he had left or if he could be saved now… was anyone's guess.


	18. The End?

Back at the hospital, the doctors prepared to give Sonic his blood transfusion.

Since he had lost over 40% of his blood from Metal Sonic's attack, Amy unfortunately had to give more than she herself needed in order to function normally.

Nevertheless, Amy was willing to put her life on the line for the one she loved most.

Soon, the doctor had two bags of Amy's blood on hand, ready to transfer it to Sonic.

Each bag held a pint a piece

Amy during this time was very weak and lightheaded, but did as she could to stay alert and focused, as she wanted to see Sonic wake up if possible.

The doctor then told her with admiration in his voice, "You're a very brave girl to donate so much of your blood in order to help your friend."

Amy quickly replied without any hesitation, "As long as this saves Sonic's life, I don't really care much what it costs me."

Again, the doctor could not help but feel respect for her bold decision.

Moments later, he added, "Anyway, I don't know for sure if this will be enough, but it should at least reduce the damage if nothing else."

"What do you mean you don't know if it's enough?" Amy asked with concern in her voice.

"Well…" the doctor explained hesitantly. "He technically should have about two and half bags, but I really don't want push it too much to the point where it ends up causing you serious harm to your body. Your blood count already is very low as it is."

Amy again told him firmly, "I don't really care about that now. I just want Sonic to recover and get well."

Seeing the determination in her voice, the doctor didn't argue with her any further, saying, "Well, let's get started then."

And with that statement, the two of them walked towards Sonic's room again.

On the way there, Amy found it harder to walk than before, as the doctor's concern of her blood being too low was starting to catch up with her body.

Amy though pressed on, saying to herself, thinking firmly, _I must stay awake. I cannot let the one I love most down._

Within thirty seconds, Amy and the doctor made it to Sonic's room, where he soon set up an IV in each of Sonic's arm.

As he did this, the doctor told Amy, "I'm sure the nurse told you this before, but in case she didn't, there is a slight chance his blood won't mix with yours."

Amy quickly nodded her head, replying, "Yea, I know."

"There's even a chance mixing your blood with yours could kill him." The doctor added.

Amy and the others in the room gasped in horror when they heard that, as the doctor explained, "I don't mean to scare you, but I think you should be prepared either way. There's no guarantee how this will all go down."

Amy at this point couldn't bear the thought of that fate, as she shook her head, replying with a sob in her throat, "This just has to work. It just has to…"

"I hope it does too." The doctor reiterated. "But there's only way to find out."

Within moments after he said that, he opened the tube in the bags, and the blood in the bag slowly but surely began to transfer to Sonic's body.

Sonic, during this time was still a bit stable, but getting weaker with every passing minute.

Amy meanwhile pulled up a chair next to Sonic's bedside on the right side, now waiting anxiously for any change.

Three minutes soon passed, as the bags were now completely empty.

With all the blood now transferred to Sonic's system, only time would tell whether or not the transfusion would be a success.

Amy soon clutched her hands together nervously, hoping for him to open his eyes any second.

Another two minutes soon passed, and this did not happen.

Every passing second ate at the pink hedgehog's mind and emotions, as the suspense was making her completely sick inside.

_Please, Sonic…_ She thought with a sniffle. _You've got to wake up soon. I don't want to even think of going to sleep until I know you're going to be ok._

In spite of Amy's pleas, Sonic's condition still did not improve at all.

In fact, she soon happened to notice his vital signs were starting to get worse.

Seeing this almost drove to complete despair emotionally, as she couldn't bear to think of him not recovering.

Then, ten seconds later, Amy received the jolt of her life, as Sonic's heart abruptly stopped beating.

When the pink hedgehog saw this, she was in complete shock emotionally. Even the others could not believe what they just saw.

"We're losing him." The doctor stated loudly to the others outside the room. "Quick, bring in the defibrillator. We've got to shock his heart back to beating again."

The others on staff in the hospital instantly responded, as they quickly brought the equipment in to try and revive him.

As they did this, Amy immediately broke down emotionally, saying with despair in her voice while tugging at his right shoulder, "NO! SONIC! DON'T DIE ON ME! YOU CAN'T NOW! PLEASE…!"

"Miss, we're going to need you to step aside for now." The doctor told her.

"What? I can't do that!" Amy protested. "I have to be by his side."

"We can't work on him with you in the way." The doctor explained, trying not to sound too cross. "So please, do as I ask."

Amy at first resisted, but eventually did as she was told. Having her step back would be one of the hardest decisions of her life.

As they began to work on him, Cream put her arm around Amy, where the two of them watched with watershed eyes.

"I can't believe this is happening to me." Amy stated in a crying heave. "Why, Sonic… why did you save my life if it meant yours would be lost? I never wanted you to do this."

Cream soon began to sob hard as well, as she also couldn't bear the thought of losing Sonic.

Even Knuckles, who was watching from across the room, soon began to shed tears himself. In spite of the fact they weren't close friends and their ideals clashed, the red echidna nonetheless had deep respect for the blue hedgehog for putting his life on the line for Amy.

"Clear!" the doctor shouted.

Within moments, they shocked his heart to try to get it to start beating again.

Unfortunately, the first attempt failed, with no change in his vital signs.

"Do it again." The doctor instructed. "We've got to do all we can to bring him back."

As they charged up a second time, Amy said with her head down while whimpering, "Please, Sonic, you've got to come back to us. I'm begging you…"

Sadly, her pleas again would not help in the least.

After a second jolt, there was still no change.

"Keep at it." The doctor told the others. "We can't give up now."

Soon, they shocked his heart five times to try and get it going.

However, each time yielded the same result… failure.

After that, Amy stated somberly, "I guess my blood really did kill him." She then added while sobbing uncontrollably on Cream's right shoulder, putting her hands over her eyes, "What have I done? I just murdered the one I loved most."

"Don't talk like that." Cream replied, trying to calm her down. "You tried to save him. It wasn't your fault this happened."

"Yes it was…" Amy stated, now heaving in between sobs. "If I had just stayed put when Tails was coming to rescue you, none of this would have happened."

While she was blaming herself, the doctors tried a sixth time to bring him back, only to have no luck yet again.

By this time, Amy, along with Cream and Knuckles soon realized it was looking very grim.

Knuckles then walked over to the pink hedgehog and putting a hand on her shoulder, saying with a sniffle, "I'm so sorry, Amy. I guess even in his death, Eggman was able to kill him."

Amy at first was angered by this statement, but soon composed herself, realizing it wasn't easy for him to be sympathetic and understanding.

Moments later, the doctor said, "C'mon, one more time."

"I think it's pointless now." One of the medical workers stated. "If he wouldn't respond by now, I doubt he would to one more round of shock treatment."

"Do as I tell you!" the doctor scolded. "We must do all we can to save the life of one of the most important citizens of Central City!"

With extreme reluctance, they nodded their head, as they soon tried again.

As they did, Amy was soon resolving herself to the fact Sonic would not be saved. In spite of the fact she did not want to let him go, she knew there was nothing that could be done for him now.

While they shocked his heart again, Amy thought to herself with another teary sob, _Oh, Sonic… I never thought this would happen to you… I thought you would always outrun death whenever it came close._

She then looked over to the bedside, adding with a heavy sniffle, _But, I guess… in the end… this was the risk of you being a…_

Moments later however, she received the sound she had been hoping for from before, as the heart monitor soon began to beep.

Instantly, Amy's emotions changed for sorrow to a bit of hope.

"S-s-sonic…?"

The main doctor on the scene then looked at his numbers on the monitor, saying with a sigh of relief, "Looks like his vital signs are starting to pick up again. He really dodged a bullet there."

Amy at that moment too let out a sigh of relief, still crying a bit inside.

The doctor then looked at Amy and the others, telling them firmly, "I don't mean to sound inconsiderate here, but I do have to be honest with you about Sonic's condition."

"W-what do you mean?" Cream inquired with fear in her eyes.

The doctor took another deep breath and said trying to explain, "Well, your friend is not out of danger just yet. In fact, it looks that 5% incompatibility might've had a negative effect on his body, resulting in his heart recently stopping."

Not surprisingly, Amy had figured out that was more than likely that the cause.

She then asked, trying to keep her composure, "Is… Sonic beyond saving?"

"I don't know…" the doctor replied, shaking his head. "Basically, the next ten minutes will be the big telltale. It could go either way. Sonic might recover soon and wake up… Or, he will soon get even worse, resulting in something worse than his heart just stopping."

Amy knew exactly what he was referring, again making her heart sink.

"Anyway, I need to check on some patients in the meantime." The doctor said, looking at Amy. "Can you keep a close eye on him until I get back?"

Without even missing a beat, Amy replied firmly, "Yes, I will. Unless I am physically unable to, I will watch over my love's life with the upmost care."

Seeing her strong determination, the doctor nodded his head, saying, "Very well… If anything happens while I'm away, don't hesitate to hit the red button on the wall."

Amy also nodded her head in compliance, as the doctor quickly left the room soon after.

Once he was out of sight, Amy again sat in the chair next to Sonic's bed, watching him intently. During this time, the negative effects of her giving blood soon began to get stronger, as the pink hedgehog felt weaker with every passing minute.

Nevertheless, she vowed to fight her fatigue with everything she had.

_I will not let myself pass out before knowing my Sonikku is ok._ Amy thought firmly. _I must stay awake no matter what._

Ten minutes soon passed, with virtually hardly any change to Sonic's body, neither good or bad.

Not long after this, the doctor returned, now checking Sonic's vital signs again.

"Well, looks like they're holding pretty good so far." The doctor commented. "Perhaps his body has now adapted to your blood and can now start to make a recovery."

Hearing this news made Amy and the others breathe a little easier inside.

The doctor then said after putting a hand under his chin, "Although, I still am concerned Sonic doesn't have enough blood in his body from that transfusion earlier to function. He needed at least 2.5 pints, but he only got two since drawing anymore out of you would cause serious repercussions."

"I told you," Amy said firmly. "If he needs more from me, then I'll give it."

"But it could really hurt your body." The doctor protested. "Or worse…"

"I don't care about that anymore!" Amy shouted, with tears now streaming down her face. "I just want my Sonikku to be well and whole. Why can't you understand that?"

Seeing her pleas moved the doctor's emotions, as Amy soon added softly, "Just do what you have to do. If I end up dying from it, then at least I died for a good cause."

Cream and Knuckles both gasped in horror from her statement, with the young rabbit saying to her, "But Amy, we don't want to lose you either. You're our friend."

Amy at that moment could sense the despair and fear in Cream's facial expressions, making her realize this would be a very tough decision.

She then walked over to Cream and told her, "Cream, I don't want to die either. Honest, I don't… My personal wish is that we'll both come out of this ok and completely recover."

Amy soon added afterwards, "But… if comes down to me living or Sonic dying, I will gladly take his place."

Cream and Knuckles now looked at the pink hedgehog with deep respect, as they couldn't believe how selfless she was being now.

"Sonic deserves to live more than I do." Amy stated after a brief pause while looking intently at her True Blue. "Nearly the whole time I've known him, I've been very selfish and inconsiderate, always putting my feelings ahead of his…"

After another pause, she soon added with her head down in shame, "And for that, I don't deserve him at all. For someone who's always putting his life on the line in order to see justice served, he deserves someone better by his side than me."

Before Cream or Knuckles could respond, Amy added with the upmost respect. "Someone… like Kitty."

In spite of her differences and jealousies about the feline agent, Amy now understood completely had gone far beyond the call of duty to help them during their mission. So much in fact, it put the pink hedgehog to shame.

"Amy…" Cream meanwhile was nearly speechless from Amy's words. Even Knuckles couldn't believe what he was hearing either.

Three seconds later, Amy turned to the doctor and said as boldly as she could, "I'm ready… draw out as much blood from me as you see fit. As long as it saves my love's life, I'll be content with it."

"Very well, if you insist." The doctor replied.

And with that statement, he escorted her to the same room from before.

As she started to leave, Cream's eyes began to well up with tears, saying to the red echidna, "I can't believe it. She's actually going to risk her own life even more in order to save Mr. Sonic's."

Knuckles quickly put a hand from his non injured shoulder, replying softly, "I guess this is something she feels she has to do."

"But… I don't want to lose her." Cream protested with a sob in her throat. "She's my best friend."

"I know…" Knuckles said with a deep sigh. "We can only hope that Amy's body will be able to hold up from the lack of blood in her system."

Two minutes later, Amy and the doctor returned, now with a half of pint of blood in hand.

Since the doctor felt any activity on the pink hedgehog's part now would be way too risky, he had another medical worked wheel her in the room in a wheelchair.

"Make sure you take it easy for now." The doctor told her. "Your system is very weak from all the blood being drawn out."

"I understand." Amy replied with a slight nod. "Go ahead and hook up the IV."

The doctor immediately did that, as he attached the needle to Sonic's right wrist, where the blood began to transfer to his system.

As it did so, everyone in the room felt very nervous. The possibility of Sonic's body not taking her blood again without negative reactions was still present.

Thankfully this time, there would be no adverse side effects. The blood from Amy was now transferring to Sonic's system without any problems whatsoever.

Within minutes, Sonic's vital signs again picked up, now becoming stronger with every passing second.

Amy during this time watched intently, trying as hard as she could to stay conscious.

Five minutes soon passed, with Sonic still unresponsive.

The doctor then said to her, "Miss, I think you really need to rest now. At the very least, sleep should reduce the damage done to your body."

Amy again resisted, saying weakly, "I can't… I have to stay awake to make sure Sonic will be ok before I can do that."

"I'm sure he'll be ok now." The doctor replied, trying to reassure her. "It's you I'm more worried about."

"Don't worry about me." Amy stated as firmly as she could. "I'm perfectly ok with what happens either way."

The doctor however persisted, saying, "Miss, while your actions have been very admirable and selfless up to this point, staying awake now though would be completely pointless now."

"No it's not!" Amy whined. "I don't want to go to bed now and then wake up and find out something bad happened to Sonic while I was asleep. I just can't let that happen."

"What about your friends though?" the doctor argued. "Don't you care that they want to see you well and whole if possible?"

"Well, yes, of course, but I…"

"What about Sonic as well?" the doctor argued again. "Do you think he will be very happy with you if he finds out your life would have been spared had you taken it easy and not been stubborn?"

At this point, Amy couldn't find a rebuttal, soon replying softly with a sigh, "No, he wouldn't… He would be upset with me, just like I was with him when he saved my life when I didn't ask him to."

"Exactly my point." The doctor said. "So please, don't push yourself any further. You too have friends who want to see you alive and well. Are you going to deny them that privilege if you can possibly do so?"

Amy now conceded to his wishes, answering with another heavy sigh, "Very well then. At least let me kiss my Sonikku goodbye before I get some rest."

"Fair enough." The doctor said.

The doctor then helped her out of the wheelchair, where she soon stood on her own two feet near Sonic's bed and leaned in, kissing him on the forehead.

"Get well soon, my beloved." Amy told him with a sniffle.

And with that statement, the same medical worker who wheeled her in earlier, picked her up and put her inside the wheelchair again, now transferring her to another bed.

However, halfway there, Cream soon heard some rustling from Sonic's bed, making her look over at the blue hedgehog.

There, she saw Sonic began to move his head some, eventually blinking his eyes once they were open.

"Amy, come quick!" Cream shouted with glee. "Mr. Sonic's starting to wake up!"

"He is?" Amy now began to smile deeply, as she was deeply overjoyed to hear that news.

She then said to the doctor, "Quick, wheel me back. I have to see him."

At first, the doctor thought of lecturing her again, but thought better of it. Since he knew how much she loved him, he felt this conversation was vital for her very well being.

Within seconds, everyone in the room crowded around his bed; with Sonic asking with weak groan while looking around the room, "Where am I? What happened?"

"You collapsed in Eggman's base." Cream explained, also smiling. "But Amy saved you."

"She did?" Sonic at first couldn't believe what she was hearing. He then asked out of the blue "Wait, what about Eggman?"

"What about him?" Amy inquired.

"Well, was he taken care of?"

Amy soon looked at him a bit awkwardly, replying, "To be honest… I don't know. I mean, I saw his base blown to bits, but I have some doubts, especially after Kitty and Tails took off the in the X-Tornado."

"Wait, they took off?" Sonic now looked Amy in the eye, asking, "Why'd they do that?"

"From what I could gather…" Knuckles answered, now speaking up. "Kitty apparently claimed Eggman had escaped the blast and saw him trying to get away, thus she and Tails went to deal with him."

"Did they succeed?" Sonic asked.

"We don't know for sure…" Knuckles explained. "We haven't received word from them since they left."

At this point, Sonic was soon in deep thought, as he eventually noticed Amy's weak facial expressions.

"Are you ok?" he asked her.

"I'm fine, Sonikku." Amy replied, trying to hide her weakened state. "Especially now that you're ok.

"But… why do you look like someone who has hardly any strength left?"

"Because, Sonic…" The doctor told him. "This young girl basically put her life on the line so you could recover."

Sonic soon looked on deeply puzzled, as the doctor added, "You lost a lot of blood from that attack to your chest, but this young lady here donated a lot of hers in order to help you recover."

Sonic then looked over at Amy, who was now standing with tears in her eyes, saying, "You… donated your blood to save me?"

Amy quickly nodded her head in agreement, as Sonic asked, "But… why would you do something so risky?"

"Because, Sonikku…" Amy replied, now wiping the tears from her eyes. "I love you."

"But… what about you?" Sonic inquired with concern. "Aren't you worried about what this could do to you?"

"It doesn't matter." Amy explained to him. "Just knowing a part of me saved your life is more than enough. I'm willing to accept whatever effects comes my way."

Sonic was soon in deep thought, as Amy added with a bit of a smile, "it's funny, isn't it? For years, I had dreamed we would be one together in marriage one day. But, in this sense, we kind of are now. A part of me is now in you."

At first, Sonic felt a little creeped out by that statement of Amy's, but soon realized she had said it in completely sincerity. So, he said after a brief pause with a slight smile, "Well, for what's it worth, I'm touched you cared enough about me to risk your life in the process."

He then said after putting a hand on her shoulder, "Thank you, Amy. I couldn't ask for a better gal to be my friend than you."

Amy now was completely swoon inside, as she was overjoyed to hear her True Blue praise her so highly.

"Oh, Sonic… you're so… wonder…fu."

Moments later, Amy almost lost her balance, as the lack of blood in her body was now in full force. She could barely stay conscious now.

"Amy!"

"Don't… worry… about… me, Sonikku…" Amy said weakly in a slur. "I'll be… ok…"

A split second after she said that unfortunately, the pink hedgehog instantly dropped to the floor unconscious.

"AMY!" All of her friends in the room except for Sonic rushed to her side.

The doctor meanwhile checked her pulse, saying, "She's still breathing."

He then shouted to those outside the room, "I need a stretcher, STAT! This young girl needs immediate medical attention."

Within seconds, several paramedics rushed to her aide, carrying in a portable stretcher.

"What happened?" One of them asked.

"She lost consciousness from a loss of blood." The doctor explained.

"Should I go get a transfusion for her?" another asked.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." The doctor answered, shaking his head.

"What are you talking about?" the first one inquired.

"We don't have her blood type here." The doctor told them. "She sadly is a combination A negative and hedgehog blood."

After hearing that, the second one asked, "Well, what are we going to do then?"

"I don't know…" the doctor replied with a sigh. "We'll worry about that later. Right now, let's at least get her in a bed to see if she can recover on her own."

During the process of placing her on the stretcher, Cream looked on very worried, saying with a whimper, "Amy… no…"

Once the pink hedgehog was on it, the three medical workers quickly carried her out, with the young rabbit soon following after them.

Knuckles then looked over at Sonic and said, "I'll be right back. I need to see where they'll be transferring her."

"Sure thing." Sonic replied with a nod.

"You going to be ok in the meantime?"

"Yea, I'll be fine, Rad Red." Sonic answered, looking down a bit sad. "Go on ahead and let me know how she's doing when you find out."

"Will do." Knuckles replied. "See ya later, Sonic."

Once he left the room, Sonic then thought to himself deeply worried, _Oh, Amy… please be ok. After all you did to save my life, it just wouldn't be right if you didn't make it out too._

Twenty minutes later, Kitty and Tails finally arrived at the same G.U.N hospital to check on Sonic. Since Kitty had informed the Commander of their results, he soon informed them of where Sonic was being cared for.

As they walked through the doors, Tails led the way, saying while flying in, "Hurry, Kitty, Sonic should be in one of the rooms nearby…"

"Coming, Tails…" she replied, trying to catch her breath.

Kitty during the walk inside began to feel weaker inside, as the pain of her broken ribs and sore feet was now catching up with her big time. Even losing blood from her right side contributed to her weak state.

Tails then landed near a receptionist booth, asking, "Excuse me, can you tell me where Sonic the hedgehog is being cared for?"

"Certainly…" the receptionist replied. "He's currently in room 191."

"Thanks…" Tails quickly turned to Kitty and said, "C'mon, let's go and…"

At that moment, he couldn't finish his sentence, as he now saw Kitty clutching her lower chest with expressions of agony on her face.

"Kitty, are you ok?" Tails asked, now deeply concerned.

"I'll be ok…" she answered with a painful grunt. "Just lead the way. I'll follow you."

Tails at first hesitated to do so, especially seeing the pain she was in, but soon conceded with her wishes, where he now flew towards the info map up ahead to find where the room was currently located.

On the way though, Kitty began to feel more lightheaded, with her vision soon becoming very blurry.

"Ok, I found it." Tails informed while still glancing at the map. "We just need to head up the elevator and…"

Again, he couldn't finish that sentence, as he saw Kitty now placing her right hand on a wall nearby to steady herself.

"Kitty…" Tails at this point knew something was very wrong. Kitty could barely even keep her head up while walking.

He then flew over to her to try and help her sit down.

Sadly, the two tailed fox could not get there in time. Within a split second, Kitty abruptly collapsed onto the floor in a heap.

"KITTY!" Tails quickly flew to her side as fast as she could, where he soon checked her pulse to see if she was still breathing.

Once it was confirmed she was, he quickly screamed towards the receptionist across the room with despair, "Please help us! Agent Katswell's in serious trouble!"

Instantly, the receptionist pressed the button, where a code blue was issued.

Tails meanwhile looked at the feline agent on the floor, saying, "Please stay with me, Kitty. You can fight through this."

Unfortunately though, Kitty could not any longer, as she soon fell unconscious.

Seconds later, medical help soon came to her aide, where they brought out another stretcher and carried her towards a nearby room for treatment.

Not surprisingly, the two tailed fox followed after them, wanting to see the exact room she would be taken to.

As soon as he found that out, Tails decided to let them work on her and now find out about Sonic's condition.

On the way there, Tails thought to himself with concern, _please be ok, Kitty. You've come too far to lose your life now._

Thankfully for Tails and the others, Kitty's condition was not life threatening.

Five hours later, the feline agent eventually came to, now in another hospital room. She was even wearing a hospital gown as well after being transferred.

The second she opened her eyes, Kitty saw Tails, along with Knuckles and Cream in her room, now looking on relieved.

"You've come to…" Tails stated with a deep sigh of relief while standing on the left side of her bed. "Thank goodness…"

"Uh, how long have I been out?" she asked with a moderate groan.

"I'd say about a good four hours or so at least." Knuckles replied, standing in front of the bed.

"You really gave us a scare there, Miss Katswell." Cream said, who was on the right side of the bed. "I'm so relieved you're doing better now."

"Thanks…" Kitty muttered softly. "So… how's Sonic doing?"

"Sonic is going to be ok." Tails replied confidently. "He was given a blood transfusion in time and is on his way to a full recovery."

"Oh, that's good to know…"

Kitty then noticed Amy's absence, asking, "So, where is Amy by the way? I haven't seen her yet."

Immediately, everyone's facial expressions changed. Kitty knew at that moment something had happened to her.

"Is Amy ok?" Kitty inquired.

Cream now lowered her head, replying, "Not really…"

"What happened to her?" Kitty asked with concern on her voice.

"Amy put her life on the line, giving 2.5 pints of her blood to Sonic in order to save his life." Knuckles explained, shaking his head in sadness.

"Amy did that?" Kitty at first was shocked by this news, soon asking afterwards, "Is… she really in bad shape?"

"Well, if she doesn't get a blood transfusion of her own within a few days, she could very well die." Tails answered somberly.

"Why don't they give her one then?" Kitty inquired with a confused expression on her face.

"Because… they don't have her blood type." Knuckles told her. "Our blood type is very rare compared to the humans here."

"Oh…" Kitty now felt very worried for the pink hedgehog, stating with sadness in her voice, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this news. I mean, I knew she would do almost anything to help Sonic get better."

Seconds later, her doctor, along with the G.U.N Commander came into the room to check on the feline agent.

"Well, Agent Katswell…" her doctor said to her. "You should really count your blessings. You are one very lucky individual."

"What do you mean?" Tails asked perplexed.

"Her broken ribs came within centimeters of puncturing her lungs." The doctor explained. "In fact, her lungs actually have scratches on them as a result of the broken ribs rubbing against them."

Before Kitty could ponder this further, the doctor added, "Fortunately, we were able to do some minor surgery to stabilize your lower rib area, preventing the broken bones inside from injuring your lungs any further."

Kitty soon let out a sigh of relief, with the doctor telling her again, "Nevertheless, you are going to have to take it easy for the time being. Your lower ribs are very tender now and will not heal properly if you keep pushing yourself. You hear me?"

"Sure thing, doctor." Kitty answered with a nod.

"Anyway, the Commander wants to have a word with you now." The doctor said. "And since you are no longer in any danger health wise, I'll give you two some alone time."

The doctor then left the room, with the Commander saying to the others, "Can you leave the room for a minute? I won't be too long here."

Tails knew what this was about. So, he said in her defense, "Please, Commander Towers, don't be angry with Kitty. We were able to defeat Eggman thanks to our combined efforts."

"I promise I won't be harsh with Agent Katswell, young fox." The Commander replied. "I just need to ask her some questions."

Tails at first didn't believe him, but decided to give him a chance, where he and the others soon left the room.

Once they did, Commander Towers looked her in the eye, putting the feline agent on edge. She knew this talk was not going to be pretty in the least.

"So… I heard you found Eggman trying to escape in another aircraft and hunted him down." Commander Towers stated. "Is that really true?"

Kitty quickly nodded her head in agreement, replying, "Yes it is, sir. Tails and I was able to blow up his aircraft in the middle of the ocean with him in it."

"Do you have any proof of this statement?" Commander Towers inquired, glaring at her. "I mean, for you to just run off and disobey me a third time… I'm going to need to see some hard evidence that your little rendezvous wasn't just another stunt you pulled."

Kitty was instantly offended, telling him firmly, "Commander, I swear to you… I saw Eggman. I went after that mad man and stopped him from getting away."

"As much as I want to believe you…" the Commander reiterated. "I need to see clear proof. Do you have anything that backs up this claim of yours?"

Thankfully for Kitty, she did, replying, "Yes, I do, sir. I wrote down the coordinates of where Eggman was stopped in his tracks."

"Really?"

"You should be able to find a couple of pieces of his wrecked aircraft floating around." Kitty explained. "Will that be enough proof for you?"

"If we can determine those pieces are indeed Eggman's handiwork, then yes…" The Commander answered. "So, what are the coordinates?"

Kitty then told him without a slight hesitation. Since she knew those numbers were vital to her job, she thoroughly memorized them in her mind.

"Ok then, I'll have a team sent out there right away to confirm whether or not your story is true." Commander Towers stated.

"You can be assured it is." Kitty replied confidently. "I didn't get these broken ribs by accident."

"You had better be right about that." The G.U.N Commander said firmly. He then walked out of the room, adding with a scolding glare, "For your sake…"

Tails also heard that last part while standing outside the room, making him glare at Commander Towers with disgust.

After he was out of sight, he, along with Cream and Knuckles walked back in the room.

Tails then muttered angrily, "I cannot believe how unappreciative that jerk is of your efforts. You could have been critically injured from those broken ribs, and he's still thinking about protocol and chain of command."

"Yea, I know…" Kitty replied with a sigh. "Still, I knew he wouldn't be happy with me when he returned. The only way he'll get off my case is seeing the aftermath of Eggman's wrecked plane."

"You think those pieces are even still out there?" Tails inquired with concern.

"I don't see why they wouldn't." Kitty answered. "I mean, there were dozens of pieces from the explosion. That team he's sending out is bound to find at least one of them."

"Yea, true…"

Moments later, Kitty asked out of the blue, "Anyway, I'm just curious, is Topaz in the building?"

"Why do you ask?" Tails inquired.

"Well, I wanted to see how she's doing. That was a very serious shoulder injury she received from the turret bullet."

"As far as we know, she's doing ok." Knuckles explained. "She even came into your room to check on you after she found out you had collapsed on the floor."

"I see… is she still here?" the feline agent asked.

Tails quickly shook his head, replying, "No, she left about an hour ago to tend to personal business."

"Really?"

"I didn't pry too much into it." Tails explained, "Especially since it's none of my business."

After he said this, Kitty was soon in deep thought. It didn't take her long to figure out where her friend Topaz had gone.

She then shocked them all, as she abruptly pulled off the covers of her bed, now sitting up.

"Kitty, what are you doing?" Tails asked with concern.

"I can't stay here any longer." Kitty replied. "I have to go now."

"But, your injuries…"

"I'll be ok, Tails." Kitty said, now standing up on the floor on her own two feet. "I'm no longer in any danger."

"But… you need your rest." Tails argued. "You still haven't recovered enough to do any activities."

"I know…" Kitty told him. "And I will… but before I do, I have things I need to do for my own peace of mind."

"What are you talking about?" Knuckles asked perplexed.

"I'll explain later." Kitty replied, now grabbing her clothes on a rack nearby.

She then turned to Tails and Knuckles after a long pause, saying with awkwardness, "Um, do you mind stepping out of the room for a bit so I can change?"

Tails instantly blushed after she said this, with the red echidna replying with a sigh of reluctance, "Very well then…"

"What about Cream though?" Tails inquired.

"She can stay." Kitty answered. "I might someone to help me get dressed anyhow."

"Uh, sure thing."

And with that statement, he and Knuckles left the room.

As they did so, Knuckles muttered, "What's gotten into her? I swear she acts like her she's invincible sometimes."

"I don't know what to think either." Tails replied with a sigh.

As it turned out, Kitty did indeed need some help getting dressed, as she was still a bit lightheaded and weak inside. Having Cream there to hand Kitty her clothes though made it easier for the feline agent, especially since she could change while sitting on the bed.

Two minutes later, Kitty was now back in her tattered jumpsuit, saying to Cream with a slight smile, "Thanks, sweetie."

"No problem, Miss Katswell." Cream replied with a nod. "I just wish you would explain why you feel the need to leave the hospital now."

Kitty then put a hand on Cream's right shoulder while kneeling, replying softly, "You'll understand soon enough. There are important matters I just have to attend to at the moment."

While Cream pondered this, Kitty said out loud, "Ok, guys, you can come back in the room now."

However, not only did they come in, but a nurse, who was bringing some pain pills for her broken ribs.

"Agent Katswell, what do you think you're doing?" the nurse demanded with a frown.

"I'm checking out." The feline agent replied firmly.

"But you can't." the nurse protested. "You're still not well enough."

"Maybe not, but I'm checking out anyway." Kitty reiterated.

"Have you lost your mind?" the nurse scolded. "You're going to reaggravate your condition if you don't take it easy."

"I don't have to stay here if I don't want to." Kitty shot back. "There's no rule in the G.U.N handbook that says I can't get my rest elsewhere."

Kitty did indeed have her on a technicality, so she replied, "Very well then, if you're going to be that stubborn, you go right ahead and leave. But I will not be held responsible for what could happen to you."

"I never expected you to anyway." Kitty countered. "So please, give me my discharge papers already so I can be on my way."

At this point, the nurse didn't argue with her further, saying while shaking her head in disgust, "Very well then."

Within two minutes, she brought them in, where Kitty officially signed the documents, thus clearing her to leave.

"The Commander is not going to be happy with you either when he finds out about this." The nurse stated while the feline agent signed them.

"Unless he orders me to return here, I really don't care about that now." Kitty replied. "Anyway, if you'll excuse me, I must be off."

And with that statement, Kitty walked out of her room and headed towards the exit.

Again, her actions left Tails completely baffled, thinking to himself while she walked away, _I wish I knew why she's in such a hurry to leave. It doesn't make any sense…_

Before she left the hospital however, Kitty decided to walk in Sonic's room and check on him.

Not surprisingly, on the way there, the pain from her ribs and right foot, as well as her lightheadedness was still there and a bit prevalent, though not nearly as strong when she first entered the building.

A minute later, Kitty finally made it to Sonic's room, where she soon peeked in and saw him looking over at Amy on the right side of the room, who ironically was moved into his room after he had personally requested it.

"Hey, Sonic…" Kitty greeted, now standing outside the door.

Sonic quickly looked in her direction, saying a bit dumbfounded, "Kitty…?"

"How you doing?" she asked.

"I guess I'm ok, but why are you not in your room recovering?" he asked her.

"Well, I just have things I need to take care of for now." Kitty explained. "I can rest later."

"What could possibly be more important than that?" Sonic inquired with arched eyebrows.

"Well, when I heard about Amy's condition, I just had to see how she's doing." Kitty told him. "I heard about her valiant efforts earlier that saved your life. To say the least, I couldn't help but be blown away."

"Yea, so was I…" Sonic replied, shaking his head with a sigh. "And now… she's the one in big trouble."

Kitty soon looked at him with an expression of empathy on her face, saying, "Yea, I know…"

The feline agent soon looked over at Sonic and could tell he was very worried by the look on his face.

"You really care about her a lot, don't you?" Kitty inquired.

"Well, as a close friend, yea…" Sonic replied. "I mean, I don't want anything bad to happen to her."

"Neither do I." Kitty reiterated. "Hopefully the doctors will find a solution to her problem and soon."

"Yea… me too…" Sonic said with another sigh.

For the next minute, neither of them said anything, as both of them were now had their thoughts preoccupied with Amy and her wellbeing.

Kitty though finally broke the ice again, saying, "Anyway, I better go for now. I need to go find Topaz and talk with her."

"Is that one of the things that you mentioned you felt you needed to do?" Sonic inquired.

"Yea, pretty much…" Kitty replied softly.

She then said to the blue hedgehog, "See you later, Sonic. Have Tails or Knuckles inform me right away if there are any adverse changes to Amy's condition while I'm gone."

"Sure thing." Sonic answered with a nod.

Moments later, Kitty walked out of the room, waving goodbye to Sonic as she left.

Sonic soon waved goodbye as well, where he soon turned back to the pink hedgehog, thinking with concern, _Hang tight, Amy. We'll find a way to get you back to normal soon enough._

He then added with expressions of doubt on his face, _I hope…_

A half an hour later, Kitty had arrived at her next destination, none other than the cemetery. She had figured Topaz would be here after Eggman's apparent defeat.

Sure enough, she was, now kneeling next to Tanaka's freshly constructed gravestone, rubbing her hand against it with a look of sadness on her face.

Kitty meanwhile soon came walked towards her from behind, saying softly, "Hey, Topaz…

Topaz instantly turned around startled, saying, "Kitty? What are you doing out of the hospital so soon?"

"I checked out early." The feline agent explained with a hesitant expression on her face. "After I found out where you were going, I had to see you."

"Oh… uh, thanks."

It was then Kitty noticed the arm sling around Topaz's right shoulder. As it turned out, they thankfully pulled the bullet out of her shoulder before the EMP blast hit.

"So, I heard you went after Eggman after we blew up his base…" Topaz commented after a long pause.

"Yea, that's the gist of it." Kitty replied softly.

"Did you… give him what for?" Topaz asked after another long pause, looking her intently in the eye.

Kitty slightly nodded her head, answering, "Yea, I did…"

At this point, Topaz flashed a bit of a relieved smile, that is until Kitty added, "Although, I wish I could have known for sure whether or not Eggman was killed after I took out his aircraft."

"You mean… you don't know for sure what happened to him?" Topaz inquired.

"Unfortunately not…" Kitty replied with a sigh. "All I know is, he never surfaced after his aircraft landed on top of him in the ocean."

Topaz was soon in deep thought, trying to think of what to make of all of this.

Kitty quickly noticed this herself, as she soon put a hand around her non injured shoulder, saying, "Hey, the point is… we avenged Tanaka. That's the important thing, right?"

"I guess so…" Topaz answered with a heavy sigh.

"Is something wrong?" Kitty asked after seeing her still looking on sad.

"Well, it's just… I was really hoping Eggman would have been confirmed dead in our assault." Topaz explained a bit guilty inside. "I mean, I really wanted his blood for shedding Tanaka's."

Kitty at first was indeed taken a bit back by this statement, but completely understood nonetheless.

Moments later, the feline then told a half true, trying to soothe her emotions, "Don't let this mystery of Eggman's disappearance bother you too much. I'm pretty certain if the crash didn't kill him, the ocean did."

"Yea, I suppose…" Topaz responded. "Still, I can't shake this feeling inside of me now that he's still out there somehow, plotting his next move. And that… is something that sickens me just thinking about it."

Kitty was again taken aback by her statement, thinking to herself, _so… she too thinks Eggman is still alive._

Kitty was now in deep thought, trying to think of what to say next.

Thankfully, she knew after glancing over at Topaz, who was again rubbing the gravestone of Tanaka's.

She then said, now putting her hand on it too, "Anyway, one thing I do know about all of this… and that is Tanaka would be very proud of you."

"You really think he is?" Topaz asked with doubt, looking at the ground. "I mean… I still wonder at times if I accomplished anything worthwhile during our mission."

Kitty now turned to Topaz, looking in the eye, replying, "You saved my life in Eggman's base. By taking that bullet for me, you made it possible for that mad doctor's downfall to happen; especially since I was the only one who saw him trying to get away after his base was blown up."

Topaz was soon silent inside, as Kitty added, "Topaz, whether you want to admit it or not, you are a hero. And for that, I know for certain Tanaka would be pleased with your efforts."

At this point, Topaz flashed a full smile at Kitty, soon walking over to the feline agent and embracing her comrade tightly with her non injured shoulder, saying with a sniffle, "Thank you. I appreciate your support more than you know."

"You're welcome, Topaz." Kitty replied, soon returning her embrace. "Happy to do it."

Seconds later, Topaz glanced at the sun over Kitty's shoulder, which was now starting to set, thinking to herself with a tear in her eye, _Tanaka, my love… I'm going to miss you so much. Thank you for being so good to me._

She then thought after a brief pause, _At least with Eggman's empire being struck a big blow today, I can take some solace in knowing he was dealt with appropriately._

Five seconds after she thought this, the two of them let, with Topaz saying with another sad sigh while looking Kitty in the eye, "My only regret in this whole battle is that I didn't listen to you concerning Rouge."

When Kitty heard her name being mentioned again, her feelings of worry and concern for her whereabouts soon came back.

"I should have believed you when you tried to warn me." Topaz added, looking at the ground sadly. "But… I just… didn't want to believe Rouge would actually do something so sinister behind my back."

Again, Kitty felt empathy towards Topaz, as she didn't know how to tell her about the female bat's heroic efforts.

"Can you ever forgive me for doubting you earlier?" Topaz asked. "I know I'm partly responsible for all the turmoil you went through in Eggman's base."

"You have nothing to apologize for." Kitty replied firmly, putting her hand on Topaz's non wounded shoulder. "I understand completely why you didn't want to be convinced. You and Rouge had a close friendship, and the thought of her turning against you was something you just didn't think would ever happen."

"Yea, that's for sure…" Topaz said with a sigh, again looking away ashamed.

Moments later, Kitty finally broke the ice about Rouge, saying, "Topaz, there's something you need to know about Rouge."

"What about?" Topaz asked with arched eyebrows.

"I know this may sound hard to believe," Kitty said, "but when you found out about Rouge's secret, it deeply affected her."

"What do you mean?" Topaz inquired, now curious.

"Well… from what I could gather, Rouge did a lot of thinking on her own." Kitty explained. "And… because of how much she cared about you, Rouge chose to redeem herself and help us escape the base."

Not surprisingly, Topaz didn't believe it at first, as her heart was still very broken after Rouge's betrayal.

Kitty then said after she sensed her skepticism, "I swear to you, Topaz, I saw Rouge actually put her line for us, all because she wanted to show you how much she really does value your friendship."

Topaz soon began to soften up inside after Kitty had told her this, inquiring softly, "Rouge… really did that?"

Kitty quickly nodded her head, replying, "She even freed Cream from her prison after you found out about her secret."

"But… why?" Topaz asked deeply confused. "Why would she do something like that if she was conspiring with Eggman? I don't understand."

"I think deep down… Rouge was just using Eggman as a means to get herself some jewels." Kitty explained. "I really don't believe she wanted to betray us so much as use the situation to her advantage."

"Yea, that sounds like Rouge all right…" Topaz stated with a sigh, soon shaking her head.

"Nevertheless…" Kitty said after a brief pause. "Rouge in the end changed for your sake. She cared enough about your friendship with her that she was willing to sacrifice her life in the process if necessary."

Topaz again was in deep thought, as Kitty added, "In fact, she wanted me to give you a message before blocking Eggman's robot for us."

"What is it?" Topaz inquired with curiosity.

"Rouge wanted me to tell you, that she was very sorry for hurting you." Kitty answered. "In fact, she felt you wouldn't even forgive her unless she put her life on the line to help us escape."

By now, Topaz was starting to be convinced that Rouge had indeed changed for her sake, as she soon said, "But, why did she feel she had to do something so risky in order to obtain my forgiveness? I'm not one to hold that big of a grudge."

"Like I said… Rouge really valued your friendship." Kitty told her. "Since she knew how much pain she put you through, she felt this was the only way to redeem herself."

Within moments, Topaz soon felt deep sympathy for the female bat, saying with a sniffle, "I shouldn't have been so hard on her. I mean, this is who she is. What did I expect?"

"No, Topaz…" Kitty corrected. "You scolding her is the very reason Rouge came to her senses. As hard as it was for her to hear your harsh and heartbroken tone, it made her realize just how far she had fallen."

Kitty then added, "You did the right thing. Thanks to you, Rouge played a big part in helping us escape."

Topaz though still felt saddened inside, replying with a heavy sigh, "I guess so... But… the fact she hasn't returned yet has me very worried."

Kitty soon looked at Topaz again with empathy, as she added, "What if… she really did sacrifice her life?"

At that moment, Kitty saw Topaz's eyes welling up again. She could tell the possibility of Rouge being dead was killing her inside.

"Do you… think she's gone for good?" Topaz asked Kitty after a brief pause.

Kitty now let out a sigh, answering, "To be honest, I really don't know. I mean, there's no evidence one way or the other suggesting what happened to Rouge."

"I figured as much.." Topaz said, soon sighing heavily again.

"There's no point in worrying yourself sick over it now." Kitty told her. "G.U.N is having a team search the area around Eggman's base. If she's still out there, they'll find her."

"I sure hope you're right about that." Topaz replied. "I really do…"

Moments later, Kitty soon felt guilty inside, as she just didn't have the heart to share what Eggman had said to her during their recent battle.

His recent statements concerning her soon flashed through her mind again.

_Maybe I killed Rouge, maybe I didn't… I'll never tell._

_You don't even know for sure if she was killed by me, or the missile attack sent by G.U.N, so what are you getting so worked up for?_

Topaz meanwhile looked over at the feline agent, and saw her guilty facial expressions.

"Kitty, are you ok?" she asked a split second later.

Kitty quickly snapped to attention, saying, "Huh? Oh, yea, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Topaz inquired with arched eyebrows. "You seem to be in deep thought about something."

Kitty though played it cool, replying, "Sorry, I was just thinking about Rouge."

"Oh…?"

"Yea, I'm really worried about her too." Kitty explained, telling another half-truth.

Topaz thankfully bought it, as she soon turned back to look at Tanaka's grave marker again.

After ten seconds of silence, Kitty said to her partner, "Anyway, I better be going. I'm starting to feel very lightheaded and fatigued now."

"You really should have stayed at the hospital and rested." Topaz replied, scolding her a bit. "I mean, your lower ribs were really in bad shape when I saw the X-ray."

"Yea, I know…" Kitty said sheepishly. "But, I had to talk with you, so I decided to wait until later before getting some well needed rest."

After hearing that, Topaz said back softly a bit hesitant "Oh…"

Kitty then said goodbyes to her friend and started to head for the Thorndyke mansion, that is until Topaz spoke up and said, "Hey, Kitty…"

Kitty quickly looked back at her, replying, "Yea…?"

Topaz at first hesitated to speak, but soon said with a slight smile, "Thanks for taking the time to tell me about Rouge. I really appreciate it."

Kitty soon flashed a smile back at her, replying, "Don't mention it, Topaz. That's what friends are for."

And with that statement, Kitty continued her walk, soon waving goodbye to her partner.

Topaz soon waved back at her, where she soon turned back to look at the sky, thinking, _Rouge… if you're still out there, please come back to me as soon you can. I'm more than willing to reconcile our friendship and start over…_

Kitty meanwhile walked back, slowly, but surely to the Thorndyke mansion.

The walk was anything but easy, as their home was more than three miles away.

Thankfully though, she pressed on and eventually made it, where she soon plopped on a couch back first in the living room, now completely exhausted.

She then thought to herself with a sigh, _what a day it's been. I never thought it would end, but thankfully, the nightmare concerning the war on Eggman's Empire is officially over._

However, Kitty felt that last part of her thoughts was completely hollow inside. As much as she didn't want to believe it, she felt Eggman was still alive.

How, or where, she didn't know… But like Topaz, she too could not shake that nagging fear in her mind.

_I really hope that's the last time I'll ever have to fight Eggman._ Kitty thought to herself. _But, for some strange reason, I doubt that._

Kitty then pushed that thought out of her head, where she soon began to think about Amy and her valiant sacrifice.

_I sure hope she pulls through._ Kitty thought after a brief pause. _It just wouldn't be right if she ended up losing her life as a result of this._

Thoughts of Rouge also began to fill her mind, as she again felt guilty for not being upfront with Topaz about what she knew.

Nonetheless, she justified them, thinking to herself, _How could I tell Topaz that Rouge may indeed be dead? She's already grieving a lot from losing Tanaka. Adding Rouge to the mix would indeed be too much for her to handle._

Ironically though, Kitty couldn't help but shake the hunch within her that Rouge, like Eggman, was perhaps still alive.

_If she's still alive, why hasn't she made contact with any of us?_ Kitty thought. _I just don't understand it…_

Moments later however, the fatigue and exhaustion soon began to catch up with her, as she barely keep awake now.

Before she went to sleep though, Kitty pulled out the same picture of her and her T.U.F.F comrades.

Seeing their faces again put a look of sadness, as well as guilt on her face, as she said to herself with a sigh, "Perhaps this might be the perfect time to try and reconcile with them. With Eggman out of the picture for now, maybe I could at least get back on good terms with them and see if we can start over."

She then added with a bit of hope, "I mean, if Topaz can forgive Rouge for betraying her, surely they could at least try and forgive my previous transgressions."

Although, Kitty couldn't help but feel she may have indeed burnt that bridge and couldn't go back, especially since she was almost certain T.U.F.F by this time was probably shut down, and her comrades were forced to find work elsewhere.

Kitty though wouldn't think about this for much longer, as her eyelids were becoming very heavy and her state of mind becoming very drowsy.

So, she eventually put the picture inside her jumpsuit and soon laid her head against a pillow on the couch, where she quickly feel fast asleep.

Since she was so exhausted and worn out, the feline agent fell asleep within minutes and ended up sleeping a good twelve hours before waking up the next morning.

Three days later, Kitty went to the hospital to check on Amy.

By this time, Sonic was well enough to come home, but didn't because he wanted to be close to Amy's side and help her out anyway he could.

Not surprisingly, Amy's condition worsened. With no compatible blood for a transfusion, there was nothing the doctor could do in that regard.

Sonic and the others of course were very worried, as they feared she may not pull out of it.

As for her doctors, they soon reasoned among themselves about what to do about the pink hedgehog's condition.

"Let's try and give her a blood substitute." One of them suggested.

"Are you sure that's a wise idea?" another inquired. "There's no guarantee it will work."

"I don't think we have a whole lot of options." The first one replied firmly. "That girl is dying, and if we don't do something fast, she'll be dead with a day or two."

After hearing that, they decided to go for broke and give it a shot.

While they went to get the equipment ready, Kitty, along with Tails, Cream and Knuckles were soon by Amy's bedside.

To see their friend in bad shape and getting worse by the hour was nothing short of heart wrenching.

"She has to pull through." Cream whined with a sob in her throat. "She just has to…"

"Believe me, Cream." Knuckles told her. "We want her to get well as much as you do."

"There has to be something the doctors can do to save her life." Cream stated, sniffling loudly.

Thankfully for the young rabbit, the doctors soon came into the room, telling them, "We're going to try and see if your friend here will respond to a blood substitute."

"What's that?" Cream inquired puzzled.

"It's like a transfusion, but works differently." One of the doctors explained. "With no suitable blood for us to give her, this is our only option now."

"Do you think it'll work?" Tails asked, looking at them intently.

"We don't know for sure…" another doctor answered him. "there's a chance it won't do a thing for her."

Tails, along with Cream immediately gasped in horror. Even Kitty, along with Sonic and Knuckles looked on deeply concerned.

"But there's only way to find out." The third doctor explained. "So, give us a minute here to set it up and then you can come back in the room."

Kitty, along with Tails, Cream and Knuckles nodded their head in compliance, as they walked out of the room.

Once they were outside, Kitty took a deep breath, saying, "I sure hope this works."

"Me too…" Cream chimed in. "I don't want to even think about Amy not getting better."

Thirty seconds later, Kitty saw a male G.U.N solider walking towards her, where he quickly stopped and handed her a note.

After that, he saluted her and walked off.

As Kitty read the note, Tails asked, "What's it say?"

"It says… the Commander requests to see me in his office right away." Kitty replied a bit hesitantly. "No exceptions."

"Hoo boy, that can't be good…" Knuckles muttered with a sigh.

"What does he want now?" Tails inquired with a heavy frown. "Can't he ever lay off of you?"

"Well, he is my superior." Kitty explained softly. "I do have to answer to him whether I like it or not."

"I get the feeling though this meeting of his will not be anything good." Knuckles stated, now frowning. "For him to demand to see you right away… there's something going on he doesn't want to tell you in public."

Deep down, Kitty knew the red echidna had a point. She soon began to wonder if this meeting would nothing more than the Commander punishing her for disobeying his orders.

Cream soon spoke up, asking, "You… really think that mean man is going to fire Miss Katswell?"

"I really don't know for sure." Knuckles replied, trying to soothe her fears. "But I do know it's not just to tell her, "Job well done, Agent."

Again, Kitty knew more than likely Knuckles would be right in this.

"Well, I guess I better get going then…" Kitty stated with a sigh.

She then turned back to look at her friends, saying, "I'll be back as soon as I can. Let me know if Amy gets any better, ok?"

"Will do." Tails replied. "See you later."

And with that statement, Kitty slowed walked away.

With every step towards his Office, the feline agent felt more and more tension in her body. She knew this meeting could get very ugly and fast.

_If this meeting is anything like Knuckles described it, _Kitty thought,_ I'm in big trouble…_

On the way there, Kitty pondered how it would all go down.

While she was very nervous, Kitty felt nonetheless the President would back her up.

_Although, I heard he's on vacation now._ Kitty thought to herself. _I guess I'm going to fight this one without him._

Kitty unfortunately would be right about that. Not even six hours after the President was freed, he and his family went on vacation, which was scheduled to commence after the destruction of Eggman's base.

_I sure hope I don't have to stand against the Commander by myself. Who knows what he'll do when it's just between the two of us?_

Ten minutes later, Kitty finally arrived in Commander Tower's main office, where he said firmly with a stony expression on his face, "Glad to see you responded promptly. Have a seat."

Kitty did as she was told, feeling very anxious inside while doing so.

She then looked to her right, and saw Topaz standing near the wall, watching intently.

"Is there a reason Agent Topaz is here too?" Kitty inquired puzzled.

"Agent Topaz insisted she be present for this meeting." The Commander explained. "So, since she went through a lot, I decided to give her permission to be present."

"Oh…" Deep down, Kitty was glad Topaz was there to back her up if necessary.

"So, let's get down to business, shall we?" Commander Towers stated bluntly after a brief pause.

Moments later, he stood and said to the feline agent, "To show you I'm completely fair, I will start this off by saying that I think you are bright and talented individual, and show a lot of promise here."

"Thank you, sir." Kitty answered.

"Nevertheless…" the Commander reiterated with a frown, glaring at her. "I have a few bones to pick with you."

At this point, Kitty knew it was going to get ugly.

Sure enough, she would be right.

"Now then, for the record, you disobeyed me, not once, not twice, but three times." The G.U.N Commander told her sharply. "And quite frankly, I am very displeased with your lack of cooperation."

"But Commander… I had to go against you the first time." Kitty explained. "We were getting killed out there and losing the war at an alarming rate."

"Yes, I'm aware of that." The Commander replied. "And since you came through admirably by choosing to follow a different path, I have no qualms with you on that point."

He then added after another brief pause, "Even the second… I'm not too upset with you about that either. As angry as I was in choosing to save a Mobian life, which resulted in Eggman shutting down our navy ships, you came through the in clutch again. So, I'm willing to pardon you on that regard as well."

"Then, what's the problem?" Kitty asked confused.

"It's the third one…" The Commander told her firmly. "That one… where you insisted on going after Eggman, even though you clearly saw his base was blown to bits, you still hopped in the X-Tornado and took off. And I clearly remember warning you that there would dire consequences if you chose to follow this path, which you did."

"Commander, I already explained that to you." Kitty reiterated. "Eggman escaped using a metal whale as a decoy, flying out in an aircraft away from our navy ships."

"Or you thought you did." Commander Towers countered.

"What are you saying, sir?" Kitty inquired perplexed. "That I made up the whole, "Eggman got away from us" story?"

"That I cannot tell for sure." The G.U.N Commander replied. "One thing I do know… we checked your coordinates, even the waters around it for a good ten miles. And guess what? We found absolutely nothing showing that Eggman had escaped our attack."

"That's impossible!" Kitty declared in disbelief. "I clearly took him on and blew up his aircraft."

"Whether you did or not, I really don't care about that now." Commander Towers reiterated. "All I know is, there is zero evidence on your part to show your actions in disobeying the third time was for a good cause."

After hearing that, Kitty knew he was about to drop the boom on her.

After a five second pause, the Commander said firmly, "Anyway, I take no pleasure in this decision of mine, but it has to be done."

Kitty now looked at him intently with fear on her face, as he soon added, "Agent Katswell… as of this moment, you are hereby suspended for a month for your previous conduct, effective immediately."

Instantly, her heart sank, saying with a whimper while looking on in disbelief, "What…? You… can't be serious."

Even Topaz was horrified by this decision on his part.

"I am very serious." The Commander told her with a stony expression. "I told you, one thing I do not tolerate is agents who think they can take matters in their own hands."

"I had to take matters into my own hands." Kitty protested. "Eggman would have definitely come back and probably blown up the city had I let it go. I had no choice. I did it for the good out of our city."

The Commander though paid little attention to her words, replying, "Be as that may, you failed to show your renegade actions were worth disobeying me over. So, your punishment still stands."

Kitty at this point could barely contain her emotions, as the Commander soon added with a frown while turning his seat around, "Now then, kindly remove yourself from my office and serve your sentence like a good agent. I'll see you in a month."

"Commander, you have to believe me." Kitty again argued. "I would never disobey you for the fun of it. I only wanted what was best for G.U.N and our community."

"I have nothing further to say to you." Commander Towers reiterated, now looking at some paper work. "Good day to you."

"But, sir…"

"Good day to you!" The G.U.N Commander said again, this time much louder.

Instantly, her eyes filled with tears, as she couldn't believe what just happened to her.

She then turned around with her head down, trying to keep from crying, soon saying to herself with disgust, "What a waste… to think I chose to come to this group when I could have stayed where I was loved and appreciated. I was such a fool…"

"Is there a reason why you're still here?" The Commander inquired firmly after a brief pause, now turning his seat around again. "I thought I asked you to leave. Are you going to make things harder on yourself and disobey me again? Maybe I should give you a longer sentence since I can tell you're as stubborn as ever."

Kitty then turned back towards the Commander with a look of rage and shouted, "Just shut up already! I've had enough of you and your ego!"

Commander Towers immediately recoiled in disbelief, saying with a frown, "Did you just say what I thought you said?"

"Yes I did." Kitty reiterated firmly, now walking towards his desk.

"You had better apologize right away if you know what's good for you." Commander Towers told her sharply.

"Oh, I'll apologize all right…" Kitty shot back. "But only that I'm sorry I ever chose to work for someone like you."

Within moments, the tension in the air became as thick as butter.

Kitty didn't give him a chance to speak again, as she pointed a finger in his face, saying with contempt, "Let me tell you something, Commander… You owe me big time. If it wasn't for me, as well Sonic and his friends working their butts off to see Eggman taken down, you would have badly lost that war to that mad man."

Commander Towers was soon seething inside, as Kitty continued, "Do you have any idea what I went through to see victory obtained? I had to fight two of Eggman's machines on his flying Carrier, blow up his machine gun bullets that kept shooting me. And if that's not bad enough, I had to fight, not one, but two super powered robots at the Thorndyke Mansion, trying to kill Sonic and his friends."

Again, Commander Towers said nothing, as Kitty wouldn't give him a chance to speak.

She then said after a brief pause, "And after that, I had to fly towards his base with dozens of missiles aimed at my G.U.N walker. Which of course, I wouldn't have made it across had it not been for Tails covering for us. Then, I had to fight off missiles on shore with my machine gun, even having to deal with a turret gun that tried to kill me and Agent Topaz."

"Are you done with your pointless rant?" Commander Towers demanded. "Because if you are…"

"I'm just getting warmed up." Kitty shot back interrupting. "You had your say, now I'm having mine."

Kitty continued again after taking a deep breath, saying, "After I got inside the base, I not only had to deal with Eggman's robots shooting at me on almost every floor, but I even had to deal with a huge E-series robot that almost killed Amy."

Kitty then added with a brief pause, "Soon after that, I had to watch Topaz get shot with a turret bullet, end up getting tricked by Rouge into a trap of Eggman's, even having to deal with her promptly once she returned. And then, if that wasn't enough turmoil, I had a psychotic robot of Eggman's chasing after us relentless. It even came after me and Tails during our battle with Eggman over the ocean."

Kitty soon took another couple of more deep breaths, as the next part just made her sick thinking about it. "It was that very robot that ended up breaking my ribs. Even Eggman injured them further when he hammered away with his fists. Nevertheless, I fought through it and defeated him, where I soon set a C-4 explosive on the back of his plane and pressed the button, causing his plane to topple over and explode."

At this point, the Commander was now speechless, though he still glared angrily at the feline agent.

"I went through utter chaos just to see that madman taken down." Kitty reiterated. "And it was because of our efforts, you were able to look good on TV in front of the press for our victory. That's right, OUR VICTORY."

She then added, again pointing her finger in his face, "After all that, you actually have the nerve to punish me unfairly just because I didn't do things exactly your way? Well, you know what, I'm glad I didn't obey them, because it was very obvious to me and the troops Eggman made a complete buffoon out of you on the battlefield. That is how pathetic of a leader you really are."

Instantly, the Commander stood up incensed, shouting, "How dare you talk to me this way! Just who do you think you are anyway?"

"I think I should be asking you that." Kitty shot back. "Who are you to tell others how to fight and do things when you can't even do your own job right?"

Kitty soon added with contempt in her voice, "You are nothing, but a selfish, arrogant and conceited bully. How the G.U.N troops ever looked up to you at all is a mystery to me. You don't deserve their respect one iota."

"That's enough!" Commander roared, now interrupting. He then said, heavily seething, "Agent Katswell, you have ten seconds to leave my office. If you don't, I'm swear I'm going to increase your sentence seven fold. Nobody talks to me this way and gets away with it!"

"Go right ahead." Kitty dared, walking away towards the door. "As of this moment, I quit."

"You what?" Commander Towers looked at her baffled, replying, "Don't be a fool. You're making too big of a deal out of a little suspension."

"Because I didn't deserve it!" Kitty lashed out indignant, now turned around to face him again near the door. "I never go against any orders without a good reason. I did what I had to do for the sake of the civilians in Central City. You should have known that by now after you interviewed me."

Kitty then added firmly while walking behind the door and grabbing it, "That's who I am, someone who will go any length to see justice served. But since you were determined to find fault with me no matter what I did, I want no part of being under your thumb any longer. Go find yourself another sap to order around, because this one's through."

"Just get out and leave already!" Commander Towers shouted.

"Goodbye, Commander." Kitty had said his name with the utmost contempt in her voice.

And with that statement, Kitty slammed the door behind her as hard as she could, walking out of the building in a huff.

Commander Towers then strongly banged his right fist on his desk, stating with disgust, "I've had it with her. That rotten feline thinks she can just push her weight around whenever she feels like it. Well, you know what? Maybe I will just fire her, especially if she's going to be so disrespectful to me."

Topaz then finally spoke up, as she walked over to the Commander while he began to do some paperwork, saying with a deep frown, "Agent Katswell is right, sir. You were completely unfair with her."

"Et tu, Topaz?" The G.U.N Commander said with a sigh while shaking his head. "Why am I not surprised you're sticking up for her now?"

"It has nothing to do that." Topaz replied. "How could you be so harsh to her? She has done nothing worthy of your wrath."

"Yea, right…" Commander Towers said sarcastically.

"Commander, I say this with respect when telling you this," Topaz reiterated, "but it's fairly obvious to me how oblivious you are to the impact she has had on our troops."

"What are you talking about?" the G.U.N Commander asked with arched eyebrows. "What impact has she possibly given them?"

"Did you not see the reaction of them when she chose to go against your orders the first time?" Topaz asked. "They basically sided with her over you."

"That was just one time." Commander Towers muttered. "Nothing more than a coincidence."

"Again, that statement alone proves to me you haven't spent much time with the troops, before and since the mission." Topaz told him with a frown.

"Then please enlighten me." Commander Towers replied with arched eyebrows. "What effect has she really had on them in the grand scheme of things?"

"Sir, I remember the mood here when I returned from my brief vacation." Topaz reiterated. "It was very grim with most of the troops full of fear and doubt. Eggman sneak attacking the city basically took all the wind out of their sails."

"Yea, I noticed that." The G.U.N Commander muttered. "And your point is?"

"My point is this…" Topaz told him bluntly. "Since Agent Katswell chose to stand up to you and pull off an impressive victory in the process, including rescuing the President I might add, they are now deeply inspired by her efforts."

"How do you know they are not inspired because of someone or something else?" Commander Towers inquired. "I mean, it wasn't like she won the battle by herself."

"No, she didn't." Topaz replied. "Nevertheless, I've heard alot of them talking about her valiant efforts since we've returned. And to put lightly, they consider her a true hero and someone to look up to as well."

Commander Towers didn't say anything in response to this, as he just didn't want to believe it.

"Commander, whether you want to accept this fact or not, Agent Katswell is the best thing that could have happened to G.U.N recently, especially after Eggman's sneak attack. She's smart, articulate, a good leader, and has a heart of gold. Not to mention she has brought the morale of this organization to its highest levels in months."

Again, Commander Towers shook with his head with a sigh, as Topaz added, "You would have to be absolutely foolish to fire her. Commander, I strongly plead with you to do what's best for this group and not for your own ego. After all, isn't the peace and prosperity of this world the most important thing now?"

Finally, the G.U.N Commander spoke up, saying with another deep breath, "Agent Topaz, let me state for the record, that I too admire your efforts and respect you for being willing to take a bullet for one of your comrades."

"Nevertheless," he added before Topaz could respond. "She must be disciplined. If I let this go, the other G.U.N troops will start following her example of rebelling against my orders; especially if it is true they consider her a good role model."

"Sir, weren't you even listening?" Topaz said. "Agent Katswell clearly told you she only did it for the sake of our wellbeing. Since she has such a good track record from before, shouldn't she be given the benefit of the doubt?"

"I don't know…" Commander Towers replied with another sigh. "Anyway, leave me in peace for a while. I have a lot of thinking to do now."

Topaz was tempted to press the matter further, but decided to not risk it, especially she wasn't willing to gamble with her job like Kitty had just done.

She then said to him, "Very well, sir. See you later."

Topaz quickly left the room, and went to find Kitty.

Fortunately for her, Kitty didn't go too far, as she was now outside the G.U.N building, sitting on the steps with her hands on top of her knees, sobbing openly.

Topaz soon walked up behind her, asking, "Kitty, are you ok?"

"No, I'm not." Kitty replied with deep sorrow in her voice. "I just got suspended for doing my duty. How do you think I'm doing?"

Topaz then sat down on the right side of Kitty, saying to her while placing a hand from her non-injured shoulder on hers, "C'mon, don't cry… it's going to be ok."

"How can it be ok?" Kitty demanded, now glancing over at Topaz. "That jerk Towers just read me the riot act, all because I wanted to protect the city."

"I know…" Topaz replied, trying to be sympathetic. She then said firmly, "But make no mistake, he will not get away with what he did to you. It was wrong, selfish and completely shameful."

Kitty was soon silent after Topaz said this, as she added, "I will personally take this up with the President if necessary. I know he'll listen to us, especially after all the trouble we went through to rescue him."

"What difference does that make?" Kitty muttered bitterly. "Even if I do get reinstated and he gets punished, it won't change the fact I'm not welcome here. The Commander has made that part loud and clear."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Topaz said, almost scolding her for that remark. "You have been a welcome addition to this group. The Commander is just threatened by the fact that you're not a yes man style of solider. You do what's best for your team, whether they want you to or not. And for that, I deeply admire your courage and determination to be that bold in the line of fire."

While Kitty appreciated her words, she answered nonetheless, "I don't know what to think anymore. I thought after this battle I would have finally won the Commander's respect. But of course, I was wrong. I doubt hardly anyone else respects me either, especially since I'm not a human." Kitty had said that last part of the sentence with complete bitterness in her voice.

"Kitty, you're not thinking clearly here." Topaz told her. "You couldn't be more mistaken in this case. You are greatly respected by both the troops and the citizens here. They saw on the news all you did to help win the war, and I know it deeply inspired them."

Kitty was again silent inside, as she knew Topaz had a point.

Topaz then told her, "Kitty, please don't do anything rash for the time being. I swear to you we will get this all sorted out soon enough. As soon as the President returns from his two week vacation, I will see to it he deals with the Commander appropriately."

Kitty soon let out a heavy sigh, as Topaz added, "Can you promise me that?"

"I guess so…"

Kitty then stood up and slowly began to walk off.

"Where are you going?" Topaz asked, now standing up herself with concern on her face.

"I need to take a walk now." Kitty replied softly, not turning her head to look back at her

"I thought you agreed you weren't going to do anything rash." Topaz said, now speaking louder.

Kitty now finally looked back at her and answered, "I'm not…"

"Then where are you going?" Topaz asked.

"To the G.U.N hospital and check on Amy." Kitty replied. "I need to see if she's improved any since I left."

"Oh…" Topaz had almost forgotten about that. She then stood up, adding, "Well, let me come with you then."

"I rather you didn't this time." Kitty reiterated bluntly. "No Offense…"

"Why not?" Topaz inquired confused. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"Of course we are." Kitty replied, nodding her head at Topaz. "But… I really need some alone time now to gather my thoughts. I hope you understand. It's nothing against you."

Deep down, Topaz didn't completely, but said nonetheless, "Well, ok then. I guess I'll see you later. Take care, Kitty."

Kitty didn't wave goodbye to her, but instead slightly nodded her head, where she soon continued to walk, deeply saddened inside.

Topaz watched her slowly walk away, thinking with anger, _I hope you're proud of yourself, Commander Towers. You may have very well just chased away one of the best agents this organization ever had thanks to your pride and ego._

Kitty meanwhile continued her slow walk towards the hospital, as her mind continued to be flooded with thoughts of sorrow and anger.

_I can't believe this is happening to me._ She thought bitterly. _I was better off staying at T.U.F.F in Petropolis. At least my boss and comrades loved me there and gave me their full support. _

Kitty deep down knew she was overreacting, but couldn't but feel she had basically beaten up her body when taking on Eggman for nothing.

_I worked so hard… sacrificed so much… threw myself completely into my work to see victory achieved… and all I got from it was basically abuse. _

She then added after a brief pause, _why? Why did he have to be hard on me? I just don't understand it…_

Even now, the fact she got a suspension by the Commander in spite of everything she had accomplished completely deflated her spirits.

_Maybe this is a sign I don't belong here after all…_ Kitty thought with regret. _If my own Commander doesn't want me, what's the point in staying here then?_

In spite of her emotional distress, Kitty decided to keep her word to Topaz and not make any rash decisions for the time being.

Not too long after this, Kitty made it towards Sonic's hospital room, where she soon sat down outside his room on a bench, trying to regain her composure.

Since she still was very upset inside, Kitty felt going in now, unless it was absolutely necessary, was not the best of ideas.

Unfortunately though, Kitty wouldn't get much time to herself, as Tails eventually came flying out of the room, where he saw the feline agent on the bench with her head down, saying, "Kitty?"

At first, Tails didn't notice her sadness, as he soon came flying towards her with a smile on her face, saying, "Kitty! You're back!"

Moments later after landing nearby her, he added, "Great news, Amy's system responded well to the blood substitute treatment. I think she's going to ok no…"

Tails immediately lost his train, as he now noticed the tears dripping onto the floor.

"Kitty, are you ok?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Tails." Kitty replied a bit harshly in a somber tone of voice.

Tails though wouldn't let it go, as he soon sat down on the bench and said, "Please tell me why you're so upset. I want to know."

Kitty however didn't answer him. She was still heartbroken inside to want to say anything.

Tails again pushed the issue, saying while putting a hand on her shoulder, "Kitty, I can't help you if you won't tell me what's wrong. Please, I'm your friend. I care about you."

Kitty finally turned her head to look at him, answering sharply with tears streaming down her face, "You really want to know? Fine, I'll tell you! I just got fired!"

Tails instantly gasped in horror, replying in disbelief, "No… you can't be serious… he actually fired you?"

"Well, ok, not exactly fired yet," Kitty explained awkwardly, "but I probably will be, especially after the way I yelled at him."

"What happened in there?" Tails asked, still in shock.

"It was just as Knuckles thought would happen… the Commander wanted to see me just so she could punish me for my so called, "acts of disobedience."

Tails was soon in deep thought, as he soon stated with a frown angrily, "I cannot believe that man. I thought for sure he would go easy on you after going through so much. What a creep."

"Yea, I know…" Kitty said softly. "But the sad part is, I can't do anything about it at the moment. Commander Towers is going to make me an object lesson for anyone who dares to question his orders."

She then added, trying to keep from sobbing as she spoke, "And for that… I hate him so much."

"Kitty…" Tails at this point looked at her with deep sympathy.

"I cannot understand how one man can so spiteful and still garner respect as a leader of G.U.N." Kitty stated sniffling. "His leadership ability in the battlefield was completely useless against Eggman."

Tails couldn't argue with that one bit, as he had witnessed the carnage from up-close.

"I just… don't know what I'm going to do now…" Kitty stated, with tears dripping down her face again. "My outburst probably destroyed my career there. And even if it didn't, I don't know if I even want to go back. If I can't at least get some appreciation for all the sacrifice I put in to help the citizens of Central City, then what's the point of being a G.U.N agent anymore?"

After she said this, Kitty buried her hands in her face, where she soon began to weep again.

Tails at this point was completely empathic towards her now. To see her in such distress deeply troubled the two tailed.

He then put his arm around the feline agent and said softly, "Kitty, I'm so sorry for all of this. You didn't deserve such harsh treatment."

Surprisingly, Kitty didn't object to Tails putting his arm around her shoulder. In fact, it comforted her somewhat.

Tails soon added afterwards, "Let me tell you something, Kitty… G.U.N doesn't deserve you."

"Yea, if you say so…" Kitty replied, shaking her head.

"I'm serious here." Tails reiterated. "I saw you do things during that mission that left me absolutely breathless."

Kitty at this point began to soften up a bit, as Tails told her, "Kitty, next to Sonic, you were the biggest contributor of the battle. And I'm not just saying to try and cheer you up. It's the truth."

"Even if that is true…" Kitty muttered in sorrow. "Commander Towers still suspended me for not being his good little agent."

"I couldn't care less what that airhead Towers thinks now." Tails replied with a frown. "Bottom line, you played a major role in this victory. If he's too bullheaded to see that, then that's his loss."

"But, don't you see, Tails?" Kitty reiterated somberly. "He's still my superior officer. Since I basically called him out on his pride, I know he's going to make life very difficult for me should I return…"

Kitty again glanced at the floor, as she was still too sad to look up at this point, adding a bit grieved, "It's just not fair…"

Tails then put a hand on her shoulder, told the feline agent softly, "Kitty, listen… even if that agency of yours does end up turning on you… Just know my friends and I will still stick by you, no matter what."

Kitty now looked at the two tailed, asking with watershed eyes, "Do you… really mean that?"

"Of course I do." Tails reiterated firmly. "How could you even ask such a silly question? You're considered family to us now."

When Kitty heard that, she then looked at the two tailed with a look of gratitude on her face, replying softly with a sniffle, "Thank you."

Tails hugged her tightly in response, with the feline agent soon returning his embrace, saying to her as she continued weep softly inside, "You're welcome, Kitty."

Ten seconds later, they finally let go with Kitty saying, now composed inside, "Anyway, let's go see how Amy's doing."

Tails quickly nodded his head, as the two of them walked inside.

Sonic soon saw them coming in, asking the feline agent, "So, how did your meeting go?"

Kitty quickly sighed while shaking her head, replying, "Not very good."

"Oh, I see…" Sonic could tell by the tone of her voice it wasn't good at all.

"They fired you, didn't they?" Knuckles asked a second later with a frown.

"Not exactly." Kitty replied softly. "At the moment, I don't know for sure of my future there."

"Oh…?"

"But, I don't care about that too much anymore." Kitty reiterated, now flashing a faint smile. "Whether I lose my job at G.U.N or not, I'm ok with it, because I now know at least I'll always have you guys as my wonderful friends."

Sonic couldn't help but be impressed by her bold words, replying, "Well, for what it's worth, we're glad you came into our lives too."

"Same here." Cream chimed in.

The young rabbit soon walked over to the feline agent and hugged her tightly from knees down, saying with a giggle and smile, "You'll never go wrong with us by your side, Miss Katswell"

Kitty couldn't help but be deeply touched by Cream's words. In that moment, the feline agent never felt so loved in her life. To see them all put their full support behind her in her time of sorrow was nothing short of touching.

Even Knuckles lent his support, saying with a slight nod, "I probably I don't need to say this since you're already a part of it… But, welcome to the team."

"Thanks." Kitty replied, now smiling a bit more.

She then turned to the blue hedgehog and asked him after a long pause, "So… I hear Amy's doing better now."

"Yea." Sonic answered. "She responded well to their treatment. If this keeps up, she may be able to go home in a few days."

"Well, let's hope that happens." Kitty reiterated.

"Hear, hear." Tails added with a nod.

Two days later, Amy indeed was well enough to come home, as she woke up from her unconsciousness a day earlier, now alert.

While she was still very weak from donating so much blood, the pink hedgehog was nonetheless on her way to a full recovery.

In fact, in spite of everything that happened, Amy still remembered Sonic's promise to her.

That next afternoon, while Cream was taking care of her, Amy brought this topic up when Sonic came up to check up on the pink hedgehog, saying, "Sonikku, you weren't planning to try and weasel your way out your promise to take me on a date I hope…"

Sonic sadly was hoping Amy would forget about it, but replied nonetheless with hesitance, "Oh, of course not. I wouldn't say that to you unless I meant it."

"Good." Amy said with a deep smile. "Because I am going to hold you to it."

Sonic though jabbed her back playfully, "I thought you said you didn't deserve me though."

"Oh… you heard my big speech." Amy at this point felt embarrassed he had overheard it.

"And if I recalled correctly, didn't I hear you also say I deserved someone like Kitty instead?"

Again, Amy's cheeks blushed heavily, where Sonic soon inquired further, "You did mean that, didn't you?"

"Well, yea…" Amy answered, looking away embarrassed with flushed cheeks. "But… that doesn't mean I'm willing to give up on you just yet. I still love you with all my heart and soul, even if I do admit I'm not the best girl for you."

Sonic then flashed a grin at her, replying, "Ah, I was just kidding around with you. Don't worry too much about it."

"Oh…" Amy soon chuckled nervously, replying, "That's good to know."

She then asked, "So, when can I count on you to keep your end of the bargain?"

"Well, when you've recovered enough from your blood donations, I'll take you out on a picnic, where the two of us can spend some quality time together." Sonic explained. "Ok with you?"

Amy quickly smiled at him, saying with enthusiasm, "I'd love that. In fact, allow me to make the lunch for us as a way to say thank you for saving my life at Eggman's base."

Sonic gave her an approval nod, as Amy soon squealed with delight, saying, "Oh, this is going to be so romantic. We'll have a picnic by the lake, take a boat ride in the middle of it… maybe even sit under the stars and gaze at each other intently."

Not surprisingly, Sonic wasn't as enthused about the date as Amy was, as he soon said awkwardly, "Anyway, I'll let you get you some rest. You'll need your strength back if you're going to be able to go on this date of ours."

Sonic then turned to leave, where Amy soon spoke up, saying, "Sonikku…"?

"Yea, Amy?" he replied turning his head.

Amy at first hesitated to say it, since it made her blush inside, but soon told him anyway, "I just wanted to say… thank you so much for your kind words to me at the hospital. You have no idea how touched I was to hear you call me a… a way past cool hedgehog."

Sonic soon blushed in embarrassment as well after she brought that up, but replied nonetheless, "You're welcome, Amy. Take care."

And with that statement, Sonic left the room to attend to other personal matters.

Amy, to no one's surprise, soon sighed heavily to herself, thinking, _I cannot wait for the day I no longer need this bed to rest during the day._

Deep down, Amy could barely contain her emotions, as thinking about their big date made her swoon all over.

Meanwhile outside the mansion, Kitty soon returned there after taking a thirty minute jog.

During the last two days, the feline agent did a lot of personal thinking.

While her mind was pretty much made up about her future with G.U.N, she couldn't help but think about her former comrades at T.U.F.F.

Ironically, a part of her heart still longed to be reunited with them.

As happy and content she felt in spending time with Sonic and his friends, Kitty nonetheless began to feel homesick.

In spite of her differences with the city of Petropolis, it was sadly still considered her first home.

_I spent most of my life there._ Kitty thought while walking in the Thorndyke's front yard. _And while the citizens there gave me a lot of grief, I just cannot shake the fact it's a part of me now._

Kitty deep down didn't know what to do, as she soon felt torn inside.

"What do I do?" Kitty asked herself. "I don't want to lose these relationships I've gained with Sonic and his friends during my time here. And yet… I still feel a bit empty inside."

She then thought to herself, _is it possible that my first love is still with the very city that did me and my T.U.F.F comrades so much harm?_

Before she could ponder this further, Kitty then spotted Tails working on an invention in the yard.

By this time, the two tailed fox's knee had recovered enough that he could walk on it without too much pain.

Kitty then walked up from behind and said, greeting him, "Hey, Tails."

Tails quickly turned around, saying with a warm smile, "Kitty, you're back… good to see you again."

"Tails, I was only gone for thirty five minutes." Kitty reiterated with a slight chuckle.

"Oh yea…" Tails stated a bit embarrassed. "My bad…"

Kitty soon let out a giggle at his response while placing a hand over her mouth, where she then asked, "So, what are you working on?"

"Well, believe it or not," Tails explained. "I'm working on an invention to try and get us back home."

"Get you back home? Aren't you already home?" Kitty inquired a bit puzzled.

"I mean our original home, the planet Mobius." Tails reiterated.

Instantly, Kitty remembered this, saying, "Oh, that's right… I remember now."

"Yea, if things go according to plan, I may be able to get us back there within a couple of days." Tails stated.

"Really? Well, that's… interesting." Kitty commented awkwardly.

An idea then sprung into the two tailed fox's head, as he looked at Kitty intently and said with excitement in his voice, "Hey, why don't you come with us?"

"Come…. with you?"

"Yea, come live with us on Mobius, Kitty." Tails suggested. "You'll love it there. It's a really beautiful planet. Plus, Eggman won't be there anymore to cause us trouble."

With the feline agent now in deep thought, Tails added, "So, will you do me the honor of coming along? It would mean so much to me if you did."

"Well, I… don't know what to say…" Kitty replied, now feeling awkwardly inside.

Moments later, Kitty turned around, where she soon looked back at Central City with sadness on her face.

"Kitty? Are you ok?" Tails asked confused.

"Yea, I'm fine…" Kitty answered with a deep sigh.

"Then… why do you sound so troubled?" Tails inquired.

"Well, I don't know if I can explain it correctly." The feline agent said.

"Try me." Tails told her firmly. "I'll understand."

Kitty however didn't feel he would, but replied nonetheless while looking at him saddened, "It's just… I don't think I'm ready to leave for another place just like that. It was hard enough coming here from Petropolis."

"But… I thought you said you didn't feel appreciated here." Tails reiterated.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I do and I don't." Kitty explained. "I mean, while it is true I don't feel appreciated enough for my hard work, especially by the Commander… I really value my friendship here with other people like Topaz. She's a good friend of mine, and I just don't think I couldn't leave so easily without telling her personally."

"Oh…"

"And… I hate to say this," Kitty added with regret, "But a part of me even wants to return to Petropolis and reunite with my former T.U.F.F comrades if possible."

"But Kitty…" Tails argued. "I thought you said your home was with us."

"I meant here with you all at the Thorndyke mansion." Kitty reiterated with a heavy sigh. "I… didn't think you guys would be planning to return to your home planet so soon."

"Oh…" By this time, the two tailed fox's facial expressions had now drooped in deep disappointment.

"And to be perfectly frank, Tails, knowing you guys will be leaving soon has now thrown another huge curveball in my life." Kitty explained softly. "No offense by the way."

"No, its fine… don't worry about it." Tails said sullen, now looking away very heartbroken inside.

Sensing the hurt on her face, Kitty soon kneeled at his eye level and told him personally while placing a hand on his right shoulder, "Tails, please don't take it wrong what I just told you. I meant every word when I said I treasure you guys' friendship. You all have been such a joy to be with."

"Then… why can't you come with us?" Tails asked, trying to keep his composure. "Can you at least tell me that much?"

"To be perfectly honest, I really don't know myself…" Kitty answered with a sigh. "I mean, I'll admit it does sound very enticing, especially after everything's that happened. But like I said, I don't think I'm ready for a big change this soon. I hope you'll understand."

"I guess I do a little." Tails said with his head, still saddened inside.

He then looked the feline agent in the eye and asked, "Well, can you at least think it over in the meantime?"

Kitty at first didn't know what to say, but soon replied with awkwardness, "I guess I could do that…"

Tails soon flashed a slight smile at her, as Kitty reiterated, "But, I can't promise you I'll say yes in the end. Right now, I'm just going to give this a lot of thought, ok?"

"Sure thing…" Tails said softly with a nod.

"And, I'll tell you what…" Kitty told him. "Before you guys leave, I'll personally tell you my decision, just to show you I do care about your feelings."

Tails now couldn't help but feel touched by Kitty's thoughtfulness, replying with an expression of gratitude, "Thanks, Kitty."

"No problem, Tails." Kitty said back, smiling slightly at him.

She then stood up and said, "Anyway, I need to attend to some personal business for now. When your invention is ready to go, let me know. I'll give you my final answer soon after."

"Ok then." Tails replied with a nod, soon waving goodbye to her. "See you later, Kitty."

Kitty quickly waved back at him as she left the yard, now heading out of the Thorndyke mansion towards the city.

Once she was out of sight, Tails thought with a disappointed sigh, _I sure hope she changes her mind. I don't want to go back to Mobius without her._

Even now, Tails' crush on Kitty was as strong as ever. In spite of the fact he knew dating her one day was a one in a trillion shot, the two tailed fox nonetheless couldn't help but feel genuine love for the feline agent.

_No matter what happens, Kitty…_ Tails thought again after a brief pause. _You'll always have a special place in my heart._

Ten minutes later, Kitty arrived at the post office in Central City.

Once there, she pulled out a piece of paper with a pen and began to write a letter on a table nearby.

The person she was writing to was none other her former comrade, Dudley Puppy.

Since he was the only one she felt would still welcome her back, Kitty decided to send the letter to his home where his mother Peg lived.

Her letter went like this:

Dear Dudley,

I'm sorry for not writing to you sooner, but things here in Central City have been very chaotic as of late. I basically have had my hands full in helping G.U.N the entire time I've been here.

Only recently have things begun to settle down thanks to a major victory on part of my team.

Anyway, I guess there's no point in beating around the bush. Things here at G.U.N have not gone as well I hoped it would have.

If anything, I feel out of place here over time, especially with my commanding Officer.

In fact, there's a chance I may not be a G.U.N agent much longer.

I won't go into details about it in this letter since there's no need to hash it out again.

Let's just say, this experience has taught me what's really important in life.

It's not so much having a good job and feeling alive when making a difference for your community, but having those who stick by you through thick and thin whenever hard times come.

So, to put it lightly, I'm grateful, that if nothing else, this adventure made me see the light about it.

Anyway, the main reason I'm writing this letter to you is basically this…

I would like to visit you guys and maybe even try to soothe any hard feelings I may have caused you, the Chief, Keswick or any other T.U.F.F agent that may feel betrayed when I took my new job at G.U.N.

I know deep down, my leaving you all now was a very poor choice on my part and has caused nothing but trouble for you guys. In fact, I'm almost certain my absence has ended up to T.U.F.F getting shutdown.

So, if you'll allow me to see you guys again, I'll do what I can to make up for my past mistakes.

I don't expect you to take me back so easily; especially after everything… all I ask though is that you give one chance to fix what I messed up.

Anyway, I hope you'll write back and give me a response.

If you get this letter and want to reconcile with me as well, please write back as soon as possible. I have a major decision to make on my hands, and I need your answer right away.

Hope to hear from you soon, Dudley.

Your friend,

Kitty Katswell.

After Kitty finished writing her letter, she sealed it in the envelope, where she soon wrote the address on it, placing a stamp afterwards.

Once that was done, Kitty dropped it in the mailbox and walked back towards the mansion, still very nervous inside.

_I sure hope Dudley will receive my letter well. More than likely, I cost him his job at T.U.F.F when I bailed on him and the others._

Kitty unfortunately would be right in that regard, as the days leading up to the battle with Eggman, the Petropolis courts decided to stop all funding at T.U.F.F, especially with the little work that they had accomplished in recent months.

When that was taken from them, the bills to run T.U.F.F began to skyrocket.

Within days, the Chief had no choice but to shut down the agency.

Dudley, along with the others were sadly all laid off and out of work.

Even the Chief was forced to downsize to a smaller home since he could no longer afford his monthly bills.

As for Dudley, he was forced to live with his Mom again, where he was now before he became a T.U.F.F agent… unemployed and lazy.

Nevertheless, Dudley soon became very depressed inside, as his job with T.U.F.F had been one of the perks of his life. No longer having it any longer soon began to wear on him emotionally.

And on top of that, he began to miss Kitty a lot with every passing day. Being in Petropolis without her in his life just wasn't the same.

_I sure miss you a lot now, Kitty…_ Dudley thought with a sad sigh, looking at the sky while standing in his Mom's backyard.

Surprisingly, not even having his favorite chew toys to play with satisfied him anymore. To put it lightly, he was one sad and lonely mutt.

_Kitty, you said you would keep in contact with me. But… I haven't heard anything from you since you left._

Dudley soon began to wonder if she had forgotten all about him.

_Maybe she is better off and happier with G.U.N than she ever was with us…_

In that moment, Dudley couldn't help but think back at all the times he had drove her nuts from their time together, now wondering if that was part of the reason she left.

_I should have treated her better…_ Dudley thought with guilt on his face. _She was such a wonderful and loyal friend to me. _

Before Dudley could ponder this further, his Mom, Peg, called out to him, saying, "Dudley dear, you got a letter in the mail."

"That's cool…" Dudley replied with a sad sigh. "Just put it on the table and I'll read it later."

At the moment, he was in no mood to read any mail, especially since he thought it was just another letter about the shutdown of T.U.F.F.

Peg though told him after examining it closer, "Oh, would you look at that? It looks like it's from your friend, Mitzy."

_Mitzy…?_

Instantly, it hit Dudley, as his whole demeanor quickly changed, saying overjoyed, "Kitty? She wrote a letter to me? Hi Gee-gee!"

Dudley then grabbed the envelope out of his Mom's hand quite abruptly and tore it open, where he soon read her letter sent the previous day.

Within seconds, Dudley's eyes began to moisten while he read it, as his Mom asked him, "What does the letter say, Dudley dear?"

"Kitty wants to come back and reconcile with us…" Dudley replied with tears of joy. "I can't believe it… she actually wants to return to Petropolis and see us again."

"Really? I had almost forgotten she left." Peg stated.

Dudley soon finished reading the whole letter, where he then began to run off.

"Where are you going?" Peg asked him a bit perplexed.

"I'll be back in a bit, Mom." Dudley replied while he ran. "I've got to see the Chief right away."

Peg meanwhile looked on a bit confused, saying to herself, "Well, if I didn't know any better, I'd say my Dudley really has taken a big liking to that cat agent."

Since Dudley was able to run fast, he got to the Chief's home within three minutes, where he soon tapped on his small home with one finger.

The Chief however was more annoyed than grateful by the loud tapping, saying, Dudley Puppy, is there a reason you're hammering on my door so abruptly?"

Dudley then showed the small flea Kitty's letter, saying, "Look, Chief, Kitty wrote a letter to me."

At first, the Chief was not that moved in the least, replying, "So what? She's probably just wrote back to tell you how wonderful her life is now compared to ours."

"No, it's not like that in the least." Dudley explained. "She wants to come back to Petropolis and see us."

"What are you talking about?" The Chief demanded. "Why would she want to do that?"

"Just read it, Chief." Dudley replied with insistence.

So, with extreme reluctance, the small flea did.

Soon, his facial expressions changed as well, now looking on with a smile.

"Well, I'll be… it looks like her job there isn't going so well after all." The Chief commented.

"Chief, allow me to write a letter back to Kitty, telling her we want to see her too." Dudley suggested.

"Why would you want to do that?" the Chief inquired with arched eyebrows.

"Because… she needs us now." Dudley replied. "We can't just leave Kitty hanging, especially not after this touching letter from her."

"Have you forgotten she left us hanging though?" The Chief shot back with a frown. "I think we should wait a while on replying back and let her sulk for a bit for this bad decision on her part."

Dudley soon glared angrily at the Chief, "You're still holding a grudge against her, aren't you?"

Dudley word's completely left the small flea speechless, as he soon began to stammer a bunch of times trying to find a rebuttal.

"Uh huh, just as I thought." Dudley stated with a frown. "How can you be so cold towards her now? Have you no heart?"

"Because she acted so cold to us." The Chief countered. "Do you have any idea how humiliating it was to have to shut down T.U.F.F? Why, our agency could have been saved had it not been for her deserting us."

"That's beside the point." Dudley replied. "Yes, I admit Kitty's decision hurt us a great deal, but she personally has poured her heart out to in this letter. I think we should hear her out at least before closing our hearts to her for good."

At this point, the Chief soon sat down on the sidewalk with a heavy sigh, eventually replying, "Very well… I guess it couldn't hurt to see her one more time."

He then told Dudley, "Go ahead and write that letter. To be honest, I do admit I miss her a lot too, even if she did leave us hanging out to dry."

"Sweet!" Dudley instantly ran back towards his home, saying, "I'm going home to write that letter right now. See you later, Chief."

The Chief meanwhile still had his doubts, thinking, _I really hope her wanting to visit us isn't just wanting us to give her some sympathy for her current misfortune._

Since Dudley ran back as fast as he could, he got home within a minute and quickly began to write back to Kitty, using the return address on the envelope as the address to write to her.

Once he got a pen and paper, he immediately began to write the following…

Dear Kitty,

I just got your letter today, and I can't tell how happy I was to hear from you again.

I'm sorry to hear things aren't going well at your current job. I was hoping you'd at least be happy there if nothing else.

Anyway, I talked with the Chief, and he says he wants to see you too.

So, Kitty, when you get this letter, please come to Petropolis as soon as possible.

I especially cannot wait to see you again so we can restore our friendship and start over.

See you soon, partner.

Your friend,

Dudley Puppy.

After he finished the letter, the white dog sealed with his big tongue after placing the letter inside and ran towards the nearest mailbox.

Before he dropped it in though, he said a bit embarrassed, "Whoops, almost forgot the stamp. Heh Heh… can't have that, can we?"

Thankfully, Dudley had brought a stamp sheet with him, where he soon placed it in the right hand corner and dropped it in the mailbox.

However, while he was doing that, Dudley inadvertently heard a small rustling around the area, making him turn his head in all directions a bit suspicious.

"Is someone there?" he asked out loud, scanning the horizon.

Strangely, the rustling sound stopped, making the big white dog shrug his shoulders and continue.

Once the stamp was on the letter, he placed it in the mailbox.

After that, Dudley walked back to his house with a spring in his step, saying overjoyed, "Gonna see Kitty again… oh yea!"

However, the second he was out of sight, that certain rustling came back in full force, revealing to be none other than Mole from the shutdown D.O.O.M group.

As it turned out, he had been in the mailbox, where he soon grabbed Dudley's letter and stepped out of it after the coast was clear.

He then got on the radio to his boss, saying over a radio once in a secure alley way, "You were right, sir. That letter was indeed about Kitty coming back to Petropolis."

"Just as I thought…" the mysterious figure replied. "I had a feeling there was a good chance she would want to want to come back and try to restore what she had wrecked with her T.U.F.F comrades after you told me of her troubles with G.U.N."

"Rest assured, boss, Dudley's letter will not be getting to her." The mole told him confidently. "I have it right here in my possession."

"Excellent work." The mysterious figure stated.

"Although, won't Agent Katswell be expecting a letter since she wrote one to him?" Mole inquired.

"Good point…" the mysterious figured said.

After a long pause, he soon added with a grin, "Well… if she's expecting a letter, then maybe we ought to give her one."

"I don't follow you…" the mole said confused.

"I mean, let's give her a letter, personally written, by yours truly." The shadowy figure suggested.

Within moments, Mole got the gist of it, saying with a huge grin, "Ah, I see… I think I know where you are going with this."

"You got it…" the shadowy figure replied. "In fact, I'm going to write that feline such a scathing letter, she'll never want to show her face in this city again."

"That's brilliant, boss." Mole stated psyched up. "Totally brilliant!"

"Indeed…" the shadowy figure said. "This letter will be part of my plot for revenge for her daring to ruin my plans to destroy T.U.F.F a while ago."

At this point, Mole began to chuckle evilly, commenting, "Oh, I cannot wait to see the look on her face when she gets that letter."

"Trust me, you will not be disappointed." The mysterious figure replied. "It's going to be a letter that troublemaking furball will never forget."

Two days later, their letter arrived at the Thorndyke mansion.

Thanks to clever manipulation, they had been able to copy Dudley's bad handwriting and style to the near T.

Even on the envelope, the handwriting closely resembled Dudley's.

By that afternoon, Kitty finally saw the mailman deliver their mail, where she soon found the fake letter.

Kitty, still feeling a bit emotionally rattled from the past events, did not suspect anything when she finally found it.

Instead, she smiled big after spotting it, commenting with sigh, "Dudley wrote me back already? YES!"

Within seconds, tears began to form in her eyes, as she thought to herself, _Dudley must really care about me to send me a reply this soon._

In that moment, she began to think back of their happy moments together, saying, "Maybe it isn't too late to fix this mess I made after all…"

However, at almost the exact same time, Kitty felt torn inside, as she soon realized this reply meant she would not be going to Mobius with Tails and the others.

Even though the feline figured that happening was a long shot to begin with, she still deeply cared about them as her friends.

_I guess I will be saying goodbye to them when they do eventually go home… _Kitty thought with a sad sigh.

Deep down, Kitty didn't want to let go of them either, but knew she couldn't have both. It was either her former T.U.F.F comrades, or her new friends from Mobius.

And on top of that, her current role with G.U.N still remained in question as well.

_Boy, talk about a huge dilemma. I guess Sonic wasn't kidding when he said I would have to choose a side._

Just then, she remembered she still hadn't opened the envelope, saying with a nervous chuckle, "Well, I guess it won't hurt to read the letter at least to see when Dudley wants to meet with me."

However, when she opened the letter and began to read it, her heart immediately sank into her stomach.

Her tears of joy were instantly replaced by tears of sorrow, saying with a whimper, "No… it can't be…

Unfortunately for her, it was.

The fake letter went like this.

Dear Kitty,

I got your letter in the mail yesterday.

And all I have to say is, you must be one pathetic feline to ever think we'd ever let you come crawling back here.

Do you have any idea how much harm you caused us?

Thanks to you and your pride, we lost just about everything that mattered most to us.

I hope you're really proud of yourself, Kitty. I'm now living in my Mom's house, broke and an outcast.

Anyway, I couldn't care less you're having problems with G.U.N now. You brought this problem on yourself when you decided to sell us out, so just quit trying to play on our sympathy already and suck it up.

You really want to do us a favor? Just disappear completely and never show your sorry face here again.

In fact, don't ever bother writing us another letter.

Let me make this part perfectly clear... WE WANT NO PART OF YOU ANYMORE.

And as far as I'm concerned, you never were a T.U.F.F agent to begin with… just a thrill seeking troublemaker.

Enjoy your miserable life, Kitty. You don't deserve anything less.

Sincerely,

Dudlee

After finishing the letter, Kitty immediately broke down in sob, as her eyes began to flood with tears.

"No… why, Dudley…? Why did you have to write such stinging letter to me? If you really hated me this much, I'd rather you just didn't write back at all."

In that moment, Kitty was still emotionally numb at how brutal Dudley's letter had been to her.

"I thought you were still my friend, Dudley…" Kitty commented with a sob in her throat. "I thought you would at least give me another chance…"

She then said after a sniffle, "But if this how you really feel about me, then so be it."

Within seconds, her emotions changed from sorrow to anger, now declaring loudly, "I don't need you or anyone from T.U.F.F ever again! In fact, I'm sorry I even offered to come back!"

Kitty immediately stormed off, crumpling the letter and placing in her pocket, where she now headed towards the front living room of the mansion.

On the way there, Tails happened to be walking by, where he soon headed towards her, saying, "Kitty, great news… my machine will be soon complete. I should have it ready to go within…"

Tails instantly lost his train of thought, as he soon saw her tear soaked eyes and anger displayed vividly on her face.

The two tailed fox had an inkling what was troubling her, soon asking, "Kitty, are you ok?"

"Never better…" she muttered seething with a hiss, walking past him without turning her head. "At least I know I know the truth now about those so called friends of mine at T.U.F.F! I should have known I was wasting my time trying to reach out to them!"

Tails now felt deep pity for the feline agent, as he watched her walked towards the couch, where she then sat down on it with her shoulders slouched, sighing with sorrow.

Tails soon walked towards her, asking with concern, "Kitty, what happened?"

Kitty didn't say anything in response, but instead handed the two tailed fox the letter for him to read.

Within seconds, Tails' facial expressions changed from intrigue to downright shock.

"I don't believe it… your former comrade wrote this to you?"

Kitty quickly nodded her head sullenly, still looking at the floor with a sniffle.

Tails then sat down on the couch on the right side, telling her with sympathy in his voice, "Oh, Kitty… I'm so sorry."

Moment later, he gave her a hug, adding, "Don't let it get to you. Your former comrades just made one of the biggest mistakes of their lives."

"No they didn't." Kitty replied bitterly.

"I'm serious here." Tails reiterated. "If they only knew how wonderful you were in saving Central City from Eggman, they would never have done something so cruel."

"Yea, I'm so wonderful that I ended up deserting them when I took this job at G.U.N." Kitty replied sarcastically. "It's no wonder they still hate me."

"Pardon me?"

Kitty now turned to look at the two tailed fox, saying to him with tear stained eyes, "Tails, you have no idea how much trouble I've caused them by deciding to work for G.U.N. I should never have accepted their offer to begin with."

"What are you talking about?" Tails inquired.

Trying to not sound harsh, Kitty told him, "It was a mistake for me to come here. Had I not been so selfish and actually just stood by my friends at T.U.F.F, I could have avoided this whole mess altogether."

Tails quickly gasped in horror, replying, "Kitty, how can you say something like that? Don't you realize how much good you've done for us and this city? You were hugely instrumental in helping us defeat Eggman."

"And what good did it do?" Kitty countered. "Not even my own superior officer appreciated my efforts."

As Tails pondered this further, Kitty added with disgust, "I think it's time I faced facts, Tails… I wasted my time coming here."

Tails then did something with the feline agent he never have done before… he grabbed her tightly by the back of her neck, where he had her look him in the eye, saying with a bit of a rebuke in his voice, "Kitty, I don't want to ever hear you say that again."

"Tails, what are you doing?" Kitty asked a bit disturbed.

Tails though wouldn't let up, saying, "Kitty, I've gone through this whole adventure with you. I saw you fight two fierce robots at this place and live. I saw you fight past missiles with a single G.U.N Walker."

"But I wouldn't have made it had I not been…"

Tails though interrupted her, continuing, "I saw you come through in the clutch, rescuing our dear friend Cream from Eggman's base. I saw you jump from the X-Tornado without any fear onto Eggman's plane. I even saw you finish him off with a C-4 explosive attached to the rear of his aircraft, accomplishing it with broken ribs and a pierced right side no less."

Kitty at this point could barely look the two tailed fox in the eye, as she soon felt guilty inside.

"After all that, you actually have the nerve to say you wasted your time coming here?" Tails interrogated. "How could you even think such a thing? Do you have any idea much it hurts my feelings to hear those words come from your mouth?"

"Tails, I…"

"I mean it, Kitty." Tails reiterated. "You in no way wasted your time coming here. If anything, you devoted yourself to a worthy cause… fighting for peace."

By now, the feline agent realized she was indeed having more of a pity party than anything.

Tails then released his grip around her neck saying softly, "Kitty, listen… I know you're really upset that your friends at T.U.F.F don't want you anymore, and I don't blame you one bit for feeling that way. What they did was nothing short of sadistic."

He soon added firmly, "But like I said, you coming here was such a blessing to us. We couldn't be more grateful for all the help you've given us this past week."

"And I was happy to do it." Kitty replied with a heavy sigh, now looking at the floor. "But… I still feel like I did more harm than good by coming here."

Tails now softened up, replying, "Kitty, we all make mistakes, and maybe leaving them was a mistake on your part."

He then reiterated after a brief pause, "Nevertheless, you not coming here would have been an even bigger mistake. After everything's that happened, I shudder at the thought of what Eggman would have done had you not been here. That's how big of an impact you made to all of us."

By this time, Kitty couldn't help but slightly smile at the two tailed, saying with a slight nod, "Thanks for trying to cheer me up. I do appreciate it."

"Anytime." Tails replied, smiling back at her.

Moments later, the feline agent soon stood up, with Tails asking concerned, "Where you going now?"

"I need to take another walk." Kitty explained, now walking away. "Now that I know my former comrades at T.U.F.F hate me, I've got a lot more thinking to do."

Tails was then tempted to tell her about the progress of his invention, but decided to let her be for the time being.

_Poor Kitty… _he thought with a sigh of his own. _I can't believe not even her old friends want to make amends with her. What is wrong with them? How can they be so cold and uncaring?_

Kitty meanwhile walked slowly around Central City with a heavy heart, thinking with her head down, _Well, Kitty… you dug this hole, now you're going to have to live in it._

Nonetheless, the feline agent couldn't help but add a split second later, _I had a feeling they might not want me back. Still, the fact they have such utter contempt for me now… I just… can't believe it. _

Even now, Kitty couldn't believe Dudley would write something so harsh and sadistic to her, especially after he offered to go with her to G.U.N.

_I don't know why, but I can't help but wonder if Dudley even wrote that letter to begin with. _Kitty thought to herself with a frown. _It's just not in his nature to say those things to me._

Unfortunately though, Kitty blew this theory off within seconds.

_Ah, who am I kidding? Why shouldn't Dudley speak harshly to me? After all, I cost him a lot with my selfish decision. I don't blame him one bit for being angry about it._

After a ten second pause, Kitty added, _But, did he have to be so cutthroat about it?_

What made this worse was the fact having them not want her anymore now intensified her dilemma.

_When my job with G.U.N was in jeopardy…, _Kitty thought to herself,_ at least I knew I could reside with Sonic and his friends for the time being, especially after the wonderful bond we shared. Maybe even return to Petropolis if that didn't work out._

_Although, when Tails told me they were leaving for Mobius, it basically forced my hand to reach out to my former comrades in order to find a place in case my job at G.U.N was history._

Kitty then added after a long pause, _but now… with them completely rejecting me, I'm only down to two options left…_

It was at that moment, the feline agent understood clearly where she belonged.

_The G.U.N commander doesn't like me at all and my loyal friends from Mobius are soon returning there any day now… Does that mean I should go with them?_

Deep down, Kitty didn't want to leave for Mobius since it was hard enough for her to come to Central City from Petropolis.

Even so, she quickly realized they were the only ones who basically stuck by her through thick and thin the whole time.

_After giving me their full support, how can I not give them mine too? They like me for who I am… What more could I ask for?_

However, Topaz quickly crossed her mind after she had thought this, making her say with a sigh, "Ah, great… I promised her I wouldn't do any rash."

While Kitty intended to keep her word to her close G.U.N friend, she felt she needed some time away from G.U.N HQ.

_Every time I look at it now… it just makes me so depressed inside. _Kitty thought to herself somberly.

She then asked herself after a brief pause, _What do I do now?_

Unfortunately for her, Kitty knew she was going to have make another tough decision.

_Well, Kitty, you've got two options now… tough it out until the President returns and continue working for someone who clearly resents you for the sake of your friend Topaz, or leave with your trusted Mobian friends to a place you've never even seen before and take a chance at maybe finding happiness there…_

Deep down, Kitty understood both options had their pluses and negatives.

_If I stay here, I'll hurt Tails' feelings since I know he wants me to come with him so badly._

_But if I leave, I'll hurt Topaz's, especially after the promise I made to her._

Not surprisingly, trying to make up her mind gave her a big headache.

_No matter what I do, I'll still end up hurting someone… _Kitty thought with a somber sigh. _Oh, why does it have to be this way? I never wanted any of this._

Nevertheless, Kitty realized she had to make a decision and soon. Riding the fence now would only compound the situation.

_Whether you want to admit it or not, Kitty, _she thought to herself firmly,_ you're going to have choose a side and then stay on it. You're not doing yourself any more favors by being neutral on this issue._

And so, with a deep breath and a tear in her eye, Kitty gritted her teeth, preparing to do something that she took absolutely no pleasure in.

Later that evening, Kitty returned to the Thorndyke mansion.

The feline agent had been away from about four hours, doing a lot of hard thinking and soul searching.

Now, she had finally made up her mind.

Even though she knew this was sadly the best way to go, Kitty's emotional state of mind was nevertheless very troubled.

It still hurt her deeply inside that it had come to this.

_I just wanted to work for a good agency, make a difference for the community and feel appreciated. _Kitty thought with a heavy sigh while walking in the front yard. _I never thought coming to would lead to all of this trouble._

Within two minutes, the feline agent found Tails around the back making the final adjustments on his new invention, which ironically looked like a big, silver elevator chamber.

"Hey, Tails…" Kitty greeted softly.

Tails immediately turned around a bit startled, wondering who it was at this hour.

However, when he saw Kitty, the two tailed fox immediately looked at her with delight on his face, running towards her.

Once there, he gave her a big hug, saying, "There you are… I've been worried about you."

Kitty couldn't help but appreciate his affection, even if it was a bit excessive, saying with a humble smile, "Nice to see you too…"

"So, where did you go?" Tails inquired further.

"Ah, I just had some things I needed to walk off in order clear my head." Kitty explained, looking away a bit ashamed.

"Oh…"

Moments later, Kitty struggled to tell him what she had decided to do.

Nevertheless, the feline agent forced herself to speak, as she said to Tails after he let go of her, "Tails, I'm ready to give you my answer."

"What answer?" Tails asked now a bit confused.

"You know… about whether or not I'm going with you and your friends to Mobius." Kitty explained.

"Oh, that…" Tails at this point felt mixed emotions, as he was still worried what she would say.

After another long pause, Kitty said with a deep sigh, still looking away. "Well, after giving this a lot of thought, I've decided to accept your offer."

"Pardon?" Tails at first couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Kitty then told him plainly, now looking him in the eye, "I'm coming with you to Mobius."

"You… are? Really?" Tails now couldn't contain his excitement, commenting, "I… don't know what to say. Thank you… I'm so touched."

Tails again was about to give her another hug, when Kitty put her right hand in front of him, saying sullen while still looking away, "Tails, please don't hug me now. I take very little joy in making this decision of mine."

"What are you talking about?" Tails asked perplexed. "Don't you want to be with all of us?"

"I do, Tails… but…"

"But what, Kitty?" Tails inquired puzzled. "I don't understand…"

Kitty looked at him a second time, now with tears in her eyes again, explain, "Tails, even though I did a lot of good here in coming to Central City, this experience has been very hard on me."

Tails at first didn't get what she was trying to say, but soon figured out, saying, "Oh… I see what you mean…"

Kitty quickly nodded her head with a sniffle, telling him while sitting down in the grass, "I thought at the very worst if things didn't work out here, I would just go back to T.U.F.F and try to restore what I had lost with my comrades there. Or, even stay with you guys here at the mansion if they didn't want me back…"

Moments later, she added in a crying heave, "But now… I'm at a huge crossroad in my life, with each path leading to something I didn't originally want."

She then added while trying to keep from choking up, "And to put it lightly, it hurts so much to be in this spot now."

Tails now felt deep sympathy for her, as seeing the feline agent this upset was breaking his heart as well.

"I just… want things to go back to the way they were." Kitty stated somberly. "Before all of this mess took place…"

Tails then sat down next to Kitty, saying with grief in his voice while placing a hand on her shoulder, "Kitty… please stop beating yourself up. It's not your fault things didn't turn out like you wanted them to…"

Kitty however wouldn't let it go, replying firmly, "Yes it is, Tails. It's all my fault… I'm the one who asked for more action, more adventure in my life… Well, I got my wish all right…"

She soon added after a brief pause with a heavy sigh, "I guess it's true what they say about reaping what you sow…"

"What a fool I was…" Kitty stated after another brief pause, now shaking her head softly. "I was so blind, so full of myself to see what I had at T.U.F.F that I didn't even realize how much it meant to me until it was gone…"

As the tears continued to drip from her face while her head was still down, Tails added firmly with compassion in his voice, "Even if everything you said is indeed true, that doesn't change the fact we love you any less because you made a couple of bad decisions."

By now, she couldn't help but look at him, as Tails added, "Do you remember what Cream said to you at the hospital after you came in to check on Amy?

Kitty did indeed, as she replied softly, "Yea, she told me, I wouldn't go wrong with you guys by my side..."

"That's right..." Tails said with a smile on his face. "And I for one hope you'll take those words to heart, Kitty, because it's true. We will always stand by your side, no matter what happens. That is how special you are to all of us."

Sensing his deep sincerity, the feline agent was now deeply touched by his words, as she soon hugged him tightly in response to his kindness, still softly crying to herself in gratitude.

Moments later Tails soon asked of her a bit curious with a warm smile on his face, "So, do you love us all the same too?"

"How could I not?" Kitty replied without any hesitation. "You guys have been the best thing that's happened to me since I left T.U.F.F."

Tails soon returned her embrace, saying with a pat on her back, "The feeling is mutual."

Several seconds later, Kitty finally let go, saying with sadness in her eyes, "Although, I still wonder how I'm going to break it to Topaz that I'm leaving Central city now."

"Oh…?"

"I mean, even if G.U.N caused me a lot of pain, Topaz was someone I really enjoyed being with on the frontlines." Kitty explained.

Tails was soon in deep thought as Kitty added, "How do I tell her without hurting her feelings? She's going to be so upset when she finds out my decision to go with you guys instead of sticking it out for her sake."

After another long pause, Tails answered hesitantly, "Well, I guess you're just going to have be upfront with her about it and tell her the truth about your feelings."

Before Kitty could respond, Tails added, "I mean, I like Topaz too. She was a good comrade to work with. But… she's a human G.U.N agent, and that sadly is where she belongs. We unfortunately don't since we're Mobians."

"Yea, I know… Kitty commented with a sigh. "Still, I won't deny working with her on this adventure was one of my brief enjoyments here. She was one of the few bright spots at that G.U.N agency."

"True..." Tails replied with as slight nod.

Three seconds later, Kitty asked Tails, "So, what did you want to tell me from before?"

At first, the info he wanted to say to her slipped his mind, but he soon remembered it, saying, "Oh yea, I almost forgot… I wanted to tell you the transporter will be ready to go within seven hours. Well, make that three now…"

"I see…"

Kitty soon realized she would be leaving a lot sooner than she thought she would. "I guess I better get ready to leave then." she commented with a sigh.

And with that statement, she walked off towards the mansion to gather some of her belongings.

While she walked off, Tails was completely euphoric inside, as he had deeply hoped for her to come with them.

_I can't believe Kitty's actually decided coming with us. _He thought with a deep smile. _This is one the happiest days of my life._

Not surprisingly, Kitty did not feel the same.

To change her place of living again in less than a month's time was not easy in the least.

Still, the feline agent knew there was no turning back now. With Petropolis and Central City no longer being cities of contentment for her to reside in, she would take a chance at finding happiness on Mobius.

_What could it possibly hurt? _She thought with a heavy sigh. _I doubt things could get any worse there than where I'm currently living._

Strangely, this thought caused some guilt in her conscience, as Topaz again crossed her mind. Even Rouge came across her thoughts her mind as well.

Unfortunately though, with no word from her in more than a week, Kitty sadly had resigned herself to the fate Rouge had unfortunately sacrificed her life in order to defeat Eggman.

She then thought with deep sadness, _Rouge, I'm so sorry we couldn't find you in time. Even if you were a pain at times, I'm going to miss you a lot. You were a good friend, especially in the end._

At that moment, Kitty decided to try to get in touch with Topaz and tell her the decision she had made regarding Mobius.

Unfortunately though, when she tried to call her cell, it all went to voicemail.

After calling seven times, Kitty gave up trying to keep ringing her phone, now leaving her a message for her to come to the mansion and talk with her about something important.

_I hope she gets the message in time… _Kitty thought. _It'll be soon time to go before long._

Sadly, Topaz did not come.

For nearly three hours, Kitty waited long and hard in the living room for Topaz to show up.

Tails meanwhile was giving his machine one final inspection, announcing to Kitty from the outside, "five minutes until liftoff."

By this time, Kitty all but gave up hope that Topaz would come in time, now shaking her head in disappointment.

As for the others, everyone one of them could hardly contain their excitement, as they couldn't wait to go home.

"Finally, we'll soon be back where we belong." Amy stated with a happy sigh, holding her hands together.

"I couldn't agree more." Sonic replied, nodding his head in agreement. "I've had enough of this place for more than one lifetime."

By this time, Amy was well enough to stand on her two feet, though still a bit weak inside.

"Well, the people here did help you recover from those serious cuts." Tails reiterated to the blue hedgehog. "That was worth something, right?"

"Yea, true…" Sonic admitted reluctantly. "Still, it was Amy and Kitty who played a bigger part in helping get back on my feet."

Amy immediately smiled happily at his statement, as she was ecstatic he had mentioned her name first.

As for Cream, she was more relieved than happy. With her mother not with them when the accidental transportation happened, the young rabbit couldn't wait to be reunited with her.

Moments later, Cream glanced over and noticed Kitty sitting on the couch in the living room with her head down, still deeply troubled.

She then walked over to her, asking with curiosity, "Why do you look so sad, Miss Katswell? Aren't you happy you'll be living us with now?"

"I don't know…" Kitty replied with a sigh. "I should be happy I guess… but, I'm just… not."

Cream soon sat on the couch with her, saying firmly, "Don't worry what those meanies did to you. They ought to be ashamed of themselves for being so rotten to someone as nice as you."

Kitty now looked at the young rabbit with a slight smile, replying, "Thanks… but, that's not the only thing that's bothering me now."

"Well, what else is there?" Cream inquired.

Kitty at first hesitated to say it, but did anyway, saying with regret, "Rouge…"

"Oh…" Cream immediately understood what she was driving at, replying to the feline agent, "I understand… it was so sad how she just disappeared like that without a trace."

Kitty now was silent inside, as Cream added sullen with a tear in her eye, "I hope she's still alive."

"Yea, me too…" Kitty replied softly.

At that moment, the feline agent felt tremendous guilt inside, as she felt very responsible for Rouge's fate.

Kitty was even tempted to tell Cream her feelings about this, but felt it would do more harm than good in the long run.

Ironically, even Knuckles felt sad inside that Rouge would not be going with them.

While he and the renegade bat weren't exactly friends, he couldn't help but respect her for putting her life on the line so they could escape.

"I'm sure going to miss that bat." Knuckles stated out of the blue, standing nearby the others. "It's not going to be the same without her."

"Yea, I know what you mean, Rad Red…" Sonic replied, soon sighing deeply in sympathy. "We owe her our lives…"

Even Amy couldn't help but feel some sadness inside for Rouge's disappearance and supposed death. It was a very sad circumstance to put it lightly.

A minute later, Tails announced loudly, "Ok, you two. The machine's warmed up and ready to go. We better get moving. There's a storm on the horizon."

Indeed he was right. During the evening hours, dark clouds began to form overhead, resulting in some brief moments of thunder.

"I guess we better get going." Cream said to Kitty softly.

"You go on ahead." Kitty told her. "I'll be there in a bit."

Cream quickly nodded her head, as she soon leaped off the couch and headed towards the front yard.

Once she there, Tails said to Kitty, "C'mon, we need to go. It could start to rain any second and damage the equipment."

"I'll be there in a minute." Kitty responded back.

"What's the hold up?" Tails inquired a bit impatient.

"I need to do one last thing before I leave." Kitty explained.

Tails again was about to protest, when Cream said to him softly, "Give her a couple of minutes. I can tell this is very hard for her."

So, with extreme reluctance, the two tailed fox decided to comply.

However, with the storm clouds getting darker and billowing a bit louder, he took some precautions, placing a few table umbrellas from the back porch over his machine to protect it from getting wet.

After that was done, Sonic asked, now tapping his foot in impatience also, "What's she doing in there anyway?"

"I don't know, but I think Cream is right." Amy said. "Let's give her a few minutes before taking off."

As it turned out, Kitty was writing a letter to Topaz.

Since it was getting cold out, she had made a fire earlier and decided to write nearby it to keep herself warm.

Kitty's letter to Topaz went like this:

Dear Topaz,

By the time you get this letter, I will no longer be in Central City.

Please forgive me for failing to keep my promise to you, but I just cannot stay here any longer, especially after my altercation with the Commander.

After an extremely stressful mission, I need to take some time off to regroup and recharge.

If my decision has upset you to the point you don't want to be my friend any longer, I'll understand.

I've resigned to the fact that no matter what I do, I'll inevitably hurt someone that I care about. I guess this is my fate now unfortunately.

Anyway, I do want you to know, that I will always cherish our time we spent together at HQ and on the battlefield. You were by far the best comrade I ever worked with. Thanks for always sticking by me and being a wonderful mentor to me here as well…

I'll miss you a lot, Topaz. May you continue to thrive as a G.U.N agent and move up the ranks to a position you really deserve.

Take care and good luck to you.

Sincerely,

Kitty Katswell.

P.S: I also you want to know I'm not saying goodbye for good. There's a chance I may come back someday. But for now, I'm going to see if I can find happiness on Mobius.

After she finished the letter, Kitty placed it on top of the fireplace mantle, placing a paper weight on top of it so it wouldn't fall off.

She then sighed heavily with sadness, thinking while staring at the letter, _Topaz, I'm so sorry it had to come to this. To be honest, I was tempted somewhat to tough it out for your sake._

Moments later, Kitty added, _Anyway, Topaz, I hope you'll find Rouge while I'm gone. You deserve to have such a good friend like her by your side I won't be here now._

Even at that moment, she felt guilty for leaving now without knowing her whereabouts.

Nevertheless, with the others anxiously wanting to leave and go back, the feline agent decided it was pointless to keep dwelling on it.

_I guess I can't blame them too much for not wanting to stay around. _Kitty thought with another sigh. _I mean, if someone isn't found within a week, that usually is a strong telltale they're no longer here._

Just then, Tails flew in into the living room through the door, saying impatiently, "Kitty, we need to go and soon. The sky could open up any minute now."

"I know…" Kitty replied, still facing the fireplace. "Just… give me one more minute. I'm almost done here."

Wanting to respect her wishes, Tails decided to wait without saying another word.

He then watched as Kitty walked towards the window and looked out of it, glancing now at Central City.

Tails was confused by her actions, but still said nothing.

Kitty meanwhile thought firmly while staring at the city at night, placing a hand on the pane, _so long, citizens of Central City… I hope you won't ever take for granted all the hard work we did to save you from Eggman._

Seconds later, Kitty now glanced at the G.U.N HQ building within, thinking, _Farewell, G.U.N… While I enjoyed my time here as one of your agents, I know my place now isn't with you._

After she thought this, Kitty walked back towards the fireplace, where she quickly pulled out her picture of her and her T.U.F.F comrades, staring at it intently.

Seeing their faces again after she got their letter soon drove her to tears within moments.

Nevertheless, Kitty resolved within herself that she would not let their disownment of her keep her spirits down.

She then glanced at the picture angrily, taking several deep breaths in the process.

Tails meanwhile was still very perplexed by her actions, as he didn't know what she was doing.

After a long pause, Kitty thought with a frown while looking at the buildings in the background, _Goodbye, Petropolis… I'm sorry I ever bothered wanting to return to you._

Another three seconds later, Kitty now glanced at her comrades, saying goodbye in her head to one after the other with contempt.

However, when she finally looked at Dudley, her anger from within rose dramatically, where she then thought, _Goodbye, and good riddance, you stupid and obnoxious mutt! I rue the day our paths ever crossed!_

At that moment, even the two tailed fox could sense the anger in Kitty's body language rising as well.

She then added seething inside; _I don't need you or any of your pathetic T.U.F.F comrades any longer! I have friends now who are one hundred times better than you guys ever were!_

Ironically, Kitty even found herself wishing harm would happen to them as a form of payback for their horrible letter.

Feeling guilty for those thoughts however, Kitty decided to quit dwelling on it any longer and move on.

As a final form of complete disownment of them, Kitty thought firmly while holding their picture in front of the fireplace, _Adios, T.U.F.F! _

Then, in one heartfelt swoop, Kitty tossed their picture into the fire, where it soon burned up to ashes within seconds.

Tails watched on in complete awe, as he knew by her actions she had done something as a means of finality.

Seconds later after the picture was completely incinerated, Kitty walked slowly over to Tails with her head still down in sorrow, saying sullenly with a heavy sigh once she was close to him, "Let's go…"

Tails then walked alongside of the feline agent after they exited the living room, placing a hand on her back as they walked towards the machine.

Not surprisingly, Kitty was still too emotionally disturbed to notice.

Within fifteen seconds, the two of them stood in front of the machine.

Once there, the feline agent took one look back at the mansion.

Even now, she found it very difficult to leave.

Tails meanwhile said to her with full support in his voice, "You won't regret coming along with us, Kitty. You'll now be with those who love and care about you full wholeheartedly."

Before Kitty could reply to his statement, Cream softly walked towards the feline agent and tugged on her shirt.

When the feline agent looked at her perplexed, Cream motioned for her to kneel down to her eye level.

Once she did that, the young rabbit then hugged her tightly in an act of affection to show how much Kitty meant to her.

In that moment, Kitty couldn't help but be deeply touched by the young rabbit's gesture of genuine love.

She then looked around and saw the others smiling at her as well.

Even Sonic gave Kitty a thumbs up to show his support.

Kitty soon gave him one back in return after standing up, though with an awkward look on her face.

Tails meanwhile soon spoke up and asked, "So, are we all ready to go, everyone?"

"I've been ready to go ever since Eggbelly was taken down." Sonic replied boldly.

"Same here." Knuckles added with a slight nod.

Soon, the others chimed in as well.

With no more reason for delay, Tails opened the door for them to head inside.

Within seconds, one after the other began to board the two tailed fox's machine.

Not surprisingly, Kitty was the last to go in, as Tails said to her while she looked back at the city again with sadness in her eyes, "Let's go, Kitty. You don't need this place anymore."

"Yea, I know…" Kitty replied hesitantly. "I just need to do one last thing before I board."

Before Tails could ask her what she meant by that, the feline agent pulled the fake note out of her pocket, where she then abruptly tossed onto the wet ground. Within moments, the huge rainstorm began to drench it to the point of complete erosion.

She had done this as her final symbolic act of leaving her old life.

"Ok, I'm ready…" Kitty stated firmly after taking a deep breath. "Let's get going."

And with that statement, the feline agent boarded the machine, where the door soon closed in behind her.

Seconds later, Tails activated the switch.

With a huge bright light and loud whirr, they and the machine quickly disappeared into thin air, leaving nothing but a vapor trail behind.

Twenty seconds later, a familiar mole popped out of the ground nearby. While he didn't witness them leaving, he had heard the sound of it nonetheless.

Once there, he began to cackle hysterically, saying elated, "I don't believe it…! You mean to tell me she actually went through with the idea to leave? YES!"

He then pulled out his radio after getting out of the rain, where he soon announced, "I've got great news, boss."

"What is it?" he asked with inquired.

Mole at first soon didn't say anything due to wanting to savor the moment, where he soon said with elation, "Agent Katswell has officially left the planet!"

"Really? You mean she actually went back with them to their home planet?" his boss inquired.

"You got it." Mole replied with glee. "Your plan worked like a charm."

"And why shouldn't it have?" his boss retorted evilly. "After all, I am an evil mastermind, am I not?"

"Yes, you are, Verminous Snaptrap…"

"Don't you mean, Verminous Steeltrap?" the big rat corrected.

At that moment, Snaptrap's, or should we say, Steeltrap's fate was finally revealed.

He had indeed survived the fall over the cliff, though the right side of his face had been smashed from landing onto the hard ground below.

In a twist of fate, his henchmen Mole had been nearby when the incident happened, instantly taking him underground before Kitty, Dudley or anyone of T.U.F.F's spies could spot him.

Since part of his face was completely disfigured from the collision, Snaptrap unfortunately had no choice but to have his face implanted with metal to restructure it.

Even his teeth had been replaced from his normal incisors to razor steel.

"So, what's the next step of your plan, Verminous Steeltrap?" Mole asked, saying his name with a smirk.

"What else?" Steeltrap retorted chortling. "Wreak havoc!"

And with that statement, his henchmen Mole headed towards Petropolis to carry out Phase two of his boss' plan.

At around 1am, in the blackness of night, Mole finally arrived back in the city.

Once Steeltrap saw him, he inquired firmly, "You have the explosives?"

"Right here, boss." Mole replied confidently, holding it in his hands.

"Good. Now go inside the fence and wire it around the outer walls of the Petropolis State Penitentiary." Steeltrap ordered him.

Mole immediately did as he was told, as he soon rigged the outer walls where the prisoners were being kept.

While he was doing that, Steeltrap stood outside the walls, preparing to cut through the fence with his metal teeth for the inmates to escape.

Thanks to his stealth digging skills and using the darkness to his advantage, Mole was able to rig the outer walls with multiple C-4 explosives without any of the prison guards noticing it.

After it was done, Mole gave his boss the signal to hit the button.

"Well, Petropolis police department…" Steeltrap stated with a smirk on his face, while holding a remote control. "Let's see you try to corral thousands of inmates at once after their walls of imprisonment are blasted to bits!"

And with that statement, Steeltrap hit the button on the remote detonator.

Instantly, the walls from all sides exploded violently. Pieces of debris went flying everywhere, with fire and smoke soon billowing from the remains.

"What in the world?" One of the guards soon saw the chaos, making him look on in shock with the search light.

Steeltrap meanwhile cut through the metal fence with in front of him with his metal teeth to get inside.

While he was doing that, the alarm now blared loudly around the penitentiary, putting all the guards on alert.

However, they would soon find out they would have their hands completely full.

The inmates of the prison soon walked out, wondering what in the world just happened.

Steeltrap then immediately made his presence known, announcing while raising his hands in the air, "Hello, prisoners of Petropolis. Fear not, for I, Verminous Steeltrap, have freed you from your chains of bondage."

At first, they all looked at him a bit peculiar. Those among released were the Chameleon, Bird Brain, Zippy, Jack Rabbit, Kung Po Chicken, the Mad Cow siblings, Crazy Horse and Wild Horse.

Even his D.O.O.M comrades, such as Ollie, Francisco, Bad Dog, Leather Teddy and Larry were shocked to see their boss alive and well.

Just then, the guards came storming out with their rifles drawn at the inmates and Steeltrap, saying, "Freeze, nobody move!"

Unfortunately for them, Steeltrap was one step ahead of them.

Before any of the guards could react, the search lights around the whole jails were shut off, as Mole instantly cut the power line to them behind the scenes.

"What the…?" All of the guards instantly froze, now unable to see a thing.

Mole soon made things worse for them, as he soon tunneled underneath their feet, causing most of the guards to fall into holes made personally by him.

Even alot of their guns had fallen out of their possession, now into the hands of the big rat himself.

He then tossed several to the inmates, saying after looking at them with a flashlight, "So, what do you say we all quit standing around here and start terrorizing the city now, shall we?"

Again, the inmates looked at him peculiar, that is until Steeltrap said with a frown, "What, you mean you're not going to take full advantage of this opportunity? What's the matter with you? Are you hardened criminals or what?"

After he said that, they quickly nodded their heads and began to follow him.

With most of the guards stunned and blinded at the moment, the inmates easily escaped through the hole in the fence Steeltrap had made earlier, where they then began to what they did best… create total havoc.

And create havoc… they did.

With thousands of criminals now free and running amok, the Petropolis police department found themselves completely swamped and in a huge bind. There was just not enough man power to deal with all of them at once.

Within minutes, they began to set buildings ablaze, hijack civilian cars and rob the innocent of all their valuables.

Even some citizens were taken hostage in order to put the police in a bigger bind.

Dudley meanwhile had been in his bed asleep, when he heard the commotion from outside.

Once he saw the carnage, the big white dog immediately stepped out, now in normal attire where he gasped in horror at what was now unfolding.

"Oh no, this is terrible!" he exclaimed, putting his hands on top of his head. "How in the world did this many criminals escape at once?"

Instantly, he heard a familiar hearty laugh to his right, where he saw T.U.F.F's old nemesis.

"YOU!"

"Well, well, Agent Puppy, or should I say, ex Agent Puppy…" Steeltrap retorted with glee. "How nice to see you again."

"So Kitty was right…" Dudley muttered in anger. "You weren't killed in that crash!"

"Bingo." Steeltrap remarked with a hearty laugh. "Although, I will have to give you two credit for foiling my last operation. Too bad it won't be as easy for you this time around!"

Dudley quickly ignored his jab, countering, "When Kitty gets here, you won't be laughing for much longer, metal mouth!"

"Oh, you mean the same Agent Katswell who's no longer on this planet?" Steeltrap shot back with an evil grin. "Ooh, I'm sooooooo scared…"

"What are you talking about?" Dudley demanded. "Why would Kitty not come back after the letter I sent her?"

"Because she didn't get your letter, butt muncher!" Steeltrap chortled. "I had it personally intercepted."

"You what?" Dudley at this point couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"That's right, ex Agent Puppy." Steeltrap reiterated. "Thanks to my brilliant plan, she's officially gone and won't ever be coming back."

"What did you do to her?" Dudley interrogated with rage.

"Oh, it's not what I did, but what you did." Steeltrap retorted, pointing a finger at him. "After all, it's not me who she thinks I told her to get lost."

Dudley was now speechless, as he couldn't figure out what the rat was trying to tell him.

"But enough talk…" Steeltrap said, now frowning. "Now, I'm going to get my full revenge on you and the rest of T.U.F.F, ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

A split second after he said this, Dudley went to attack him in a fit of rage, only to see a dozen of his new comrades in his path, making the big white dog instantly stop in his tracks.

"If you want to beat me, you're going to have to get through them first." Steeltrap told him with an evil grin.

Dudley then saw a familiar face, none other than Kitty's old partner.

"You're actually going to help out this rat fink carry out his vile plan too?" Dudley demanded in disbelief.

"And why shouldn't I, mutt?" Jack Rabbit retorted with a grin. "I too have been wanting a piece of you for a while now after you foiled my plans to drain Agent Katswell's of her special knowledge."

In spite of being heavily outnumbered, Dudley was still determined to punch his lights out as means of retaliation

However, Dudley was again halted in his tracks, as he soon saw his Mom being dragged out of his house, by none other than the Chameleon himself.

"Dudley, help me!" Peg cried out, trying to get free.

"Mom!"

As it turned out, the Chameleon had disguised himself as Dudley in order to get her out in the open.

"Well, ex Agent Puppy…" Steeltrap commented with a sly grin. "You better do what I say, or your Mom is going to be my first personal victim."

At that moment, Dudley knew it was looking very grim.

_What do I do? _He thought, now sweating bullets. _If I dare try to attack, my Mom will get hurt in the process…_

He then thought with arched eyebrows, _And what did this rat mean by Kitty has left the planet? What, did she literally leave for another one? How is that even possible?_

Before Dudley could ponder this further, Steeltrap said to him firmly, "Well, what's it going to be, mutt? Are you going to cooperate with me, or not?"

With the odds heavily against him, the big white dog realized he could not do a thing. Nevertheless, he wasn't ready to throw in the towel just yet.

Even now, Dudley refused to believe Kitty had completely abandoned them.

_Kitty wouldn't just leave us like this without a good reason. _Dudley thought to himself.

Snaptrap by this time was getting impatient, saying with a fierce glare to the big white dog, "You have ten seconds to give me your answer, butt muncher, or your Mom will get it."

Before Dudley could blink, the Chameleon had handed him over to Steeltrap, where he now pointed his gun at her head.

Seeing her whimper in fright, Dudley was all but ready to surrender now.

_Hurry, Kitty… _He thought with despair. _I can't fight these guys with you…_

Unfortunately for Agent Puppy, Kitty would not be coming. On this dark and chaotic night, Verminous Steeltrap had won the battle, where the city would now be under his iron rule.

The next day on Eggman's abandoned island, a team of G.U.N soldiers began to excavate around the area, looking for any material of weapons they could use for themselves.

Ironically, the missile attack pretty much damaged any metal material left to useless scrap metal. After an hour of digging around, one of them commented with disgust, "Ah, we're wasting our time here. There are no valuable resources left for us to take back to the base."

The others soon agreed, but one wasn't ready to quit just yet, replying, "Let's dig a little while longer. I'm betting Eggman probably has some leftover missiles, gadgets or devices somewhere underground."

So, with extreme reluctance, they continued their search.

Ten minutes later, one of them finally hit something solid.

"Hey, what's this?" he pondered.

The G.U.N solider then began dig in the sand, as one of the others asked, "You find something?"

"I think so." The G.U.N solider answered. "Give me a hand here."

Within seconds, they all began to dig in the spot, where they found a metal door underneath.

"Well, I'll be…" another G.U.N solider remarked. "Eggman did indeed have an underground storage area. Let's check it out."

However, as they tried to open it, one of them couldn't help but suspect someone, or something was watching them.

He then turned around, where he saw what appeared to be the top of a light purple octopus, peering out of the waters.

Although, it quickly disappeared back into the ocean after he turned around, now completely submerged.

"Something wrong?" One of his comrades inquired.

"I don't know…" he replied. "If I didn't know any better, I could have sworn a purple octopus was watching us."

"So what?" another of the soldiers remarked. "We are in the middle of the ocean after all…"

"Yea, but… that octopus didn't look right." The same G.U.N solider argued. "It almost looked like it was made out of… metal."

"Ah, you're just paranoid." One of them commented. "Dr. Eggman is long gone, thanks to Agent Katswell and those Mobian friends of hers."

Nevertheless, this G.U.N solider just couldn't shake the feeling there was more to it than that.

Another G.U.N solider then commented, trying to change the subject, "Man, was that rookie agent something or what?"

"I know…" the first one who found the spot remarked. "I gotta give her a lot of credit for daring to go against the Commander. But, her gutsy move paid off. Thanks to her, we can breathe a lot easier now."

"Too bad they aren't more with her kind of bravado." The G.U.N solider on the left added. "We could use more troops to stand up to that windbag sometimes."

"You're telling me." The first one replied scoffing. "Did you see how he basically took most of the credit on the news, saying they wouldn't have succeeded without his brilliant leadership and training? What a laugh!"

"Speaking of which, I haven't seen her around lately." A G.U.N solider on the right commented with arched eyebrows. "Where do you suppose Agent Katswell is anyway?"

"As far as I know, she's back at the Thorndyke mansion recovering." Another G.U.N solider answered. "Well, at least that's what the Commander said anyhow."

"You know, for some reason I suspect there's more to the story than he's letting on." The first G.U.N solider stated with a frown.

Before any of them could comment about this further, the same solider who had seen the purple octopus before, soon turned around after hearing some noise… This time, seeing a red claw come out of the waters.

But again, it disappeared into the ocean after it was spotted.

"Ok, something's not right here…" he commented with arched eyebrows. "Since when do octopuses have red claws?"

Unfortunately for him, nobody else saw it, making one of them commented with a chuckle, "Dude, you really need a vacation. You're starting to hallucinate out here."

"I am not!" he protested firmly. "I saw a red claw come out of the waters."

"Ah, it doesn't matter." Another solider replied. "Several G.U.N choppers are on the way to help us search the underground area of Eggman's base."

Moments later, the door was finally opened, where they soon walked in one by one to explore.

Since it was pitch dark inside, one of the soldiers had to use a flashlight in order to see where they were going.

At first, they saw nothing but metal walls, making another comment, "I wonder Eggman used up all his supplies during the battle."

"We'll find out soon enough." The G.U.N soldier with the flashlight replied.

A minute later, after heading into another room, they all instantly stopped in their tracks, as they saw a faint glow up head.

"What's that?" a G.U.N solider from the rear asked in a bit of fright.

"Let's check it out."

Within ten seconds, they soon found out what was causing the glow. However, what they found nearby it completely took their breaths away.

"Oh my goodness, it's… the renegade G.U.N agent." One of the stated in disbelief.

Another soon ran over to check her pulse, where he said, "She's still alive. Quick, get a chopper nearby the door right away. We've got to get her to a hospital ASAP!"

"Wait… wasn't she the one who betrayed G.U.N?" one of the G.U.N soldiers pondered. "Should we really help her out?"

"Are you mad?" the G.U.N solider near the unconscious bat demanded. "This is Agent Topaz's personal friend. She's been talking about her for the last couple of days."

"Well, yes, I know that, but…"

"You want to be the one to tell her we could've saved her life, but didn't?" the G.U.N solider with the flashlight interrogated.

After he put it that way, none of them dared to question this decision.

Moments later, a G.U.N solider nearby picked her up, and there they saw the wounds to her head.

"It looks she was beaned over the back of the head with some blunt instrument." He commented.

"How in the world did she survive this long?" another pondered. "She's been missing for over a week."

Just then, they found out what was causing her body to glow, none other than the Chaos Emerald in her pocket.

"You think… this little gem kept her alive?" one of them asked.

"I don't see how, but that's not my concern now." The lead G.U.N solider replied firmly. He then ordered the one carrying the renegade bat, "Quick, carry her out of the room and out into the open. We don't have a moment to lose."

"Right…"

And with that, the G.U.N solider did as he was told.

Meanwhile an hour later, Agent Topaz soon received word of Rouge being found alive via cellphone.

With tears of relief in her eyes, she soon said happily, "I knew she was still out there somewhere. Rouge wouldn't just disappear like that without a reason."

Agent Topaz then quickly ran out of her quarter towards the G.U.N hospital, hoping she would pull through.

However, on her way out, she then noticed a voicemail message from the Thorndyke mansion.

"Looks like someone was trying to reach me from there last night." Topaz commented a bit perplexed. "Maybe I should have kept my phone on after all. Kitty might have been trying to get into contact with me."

Nevertheless, Topaz decided to listen to it later. With Rouge's life currently in jeopardy, Topaz knew it could wait.

_It probably wasn't anything that urgent anyway. _Topaz thought firmly. _I mean, it's not like her Mobian friends couldn't help her out for the time being._

Strangely, Topaz then got the feeling to look at Kitty's message, as something about it didn't feel right to her.

However, her suspicions were completely drowned out within seconds by her concern for Rouge, as she continued to run towards the hospital.

_I'm sure Kitty has found out by now about Rouge's condition anyhow. Knowing her, I'll probably run into her and the others at the hospital. We can talk there and see what she wanted to say to me._

Little did she or anyone else in the city realize though, they were now long gone.

A new chapter in the lives of those in Central City, Petropolis and even Mobius was about to unfold.

What would happen next… was anyone's guess.


	19. The Mobius Experience

On a bright and sunny day in Central City, a familiar face came slowly walking into town, basically walking ¾ of the way there on foot.

It wasn't that he wanted to, but for this ex agent, he had no other choice.

I cannot believe how bad things have gotten… A familiar large white dog thought to himself while walking with sorrow on his face. From Kitty leaving the team, to all of this chaos… it's just too much to even comprehend now.

For this Ex T.U.F.F agent, Dudley Puppy had basically hit rock bottom. Stripped of his job, his home, city, friends, even his own mother, there was no lower feeling for him than the one he was experiencing now.

Even at this moment, the large white dog tried to make sense out of what had just happened not even six hours ago.

I should have listened to Kitty while she still with us. Dudley thought with a heavy sigh. She told me she had a bad feeling inside Snaptrap might be still alive. Well, she was right. Not only is he alive and well, but now rules the very city I used to call home…

What made it an even harder pill to swallow for him was how the metal mouth rat's raid had gone down.

Snaptrap, or should we say Steeltrap, had basically armed himself with thousands of inmates after breaking them free of their prisons. And since they were basically somewhat indebted to his act of generosity, they together turned the city of Petropolis into a criminal's playground.

Dudley Puppy sadly was hopelessly outnumbered, as making any attempt to stop them ended up being completely useless.

If that wasn't bad enough, Steeltrap quickly hit him where it hurts soon after, threatening the very lives of those who he called his beloved family and friends.

Not wanting to push his luck, Dudley quickly surrendered, saying he would do whatever he asked if he promised to not hurt his loved ones.

Deciding to take full advantage of it, Steeltrap accepted his terms, but with a very stern warning.

"Here's the deal, ex Agent Puppy…" Steeltrap told him sharply. "Since you were smart enough to surrender, I'll go easy on you and your friends."

He then said to reiterate further, "But in exchange for me not laying a hand on them, you have to leave town and never come back!"

"What? You can't be serious!" Dudley exclaimed in shock.

"I am dead serious, mutt!" Steeltrap replied with a fierce glare. "Otherwise, they'll be the first to go in my weeding out system!"

His weeding out system was none other than a series of tests to prove how loyal the civilians would be to him. If they passed, their lives would be spared. If not… well, you get the idea.

Seeing all his family and friends held at gunpoint, the large white dog didn't have to think it over for very long. With tears in his eyes, Dudley answered, "Very well, Steeltrap… I agree to your demands and will leave the city within the hour."

"Oh no, you're not leaving within the hour." Steeltrap reiterated firmly. "You're leaving right now!"

"What? You mean you're not even going to let say goodbye to them?" Dudley inquired in shock.

"Of course not!" Steeltrap replied sharply. "What kind of villain do you think I am anyway?"

Dudley now glared at him with fierce anger, as Steeltrap added, "And besides, since you basically forced me to live underground and out of touch with my daily needs and wants, it's only fair you get a taste of it and then some!"

Dudley was very tempted to argue with him about this, but again decided to not push his luck for the sake of his loved ones. He instead turned to leave and began to walk away.

However, after taking five steps, the large white dog looked back, declaring boldly with rage on his face, "You better honor our deal, metal mouth. If I find out you brought any harm to them while I'm away, I'm going to come back with a serious vengeance!"

Not surprisingly, Steeltrap blew it off completely, even mocking his threat, replying with a raspberry, "Oh please… you're full of hot air, butt muncher."

Nevertheless, to keep him off his back in the near future, Steeltrap said to him, "Rest assured, as long as you stay out of Petropolis, I have no reason to harm them. But the day you dare to take one step back within the city limits, your friends will die, quite painfully too, right in front of your very eyes. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear…" Dudley muttered, gritting his teeth at him.

"Good, now start marching, mutt!" Steeltrap ordered, pointing a finger towards the outer parts of the city

Dudley just did that. Before he did though, he looked black for a brief second, pondering the idea of saying goodbye at least to his mother. But again, since Steeltrap was holding her at gunpoint, he thought better of it.

As Dudley began to slowly walk away, his Mom looked on deeply saddened, thinking to herself, Goodbye, Dudley dear… I'll miss you, so much…

Dudley's mind soon flashed back to the present, still deeply troubled inside by the whole turn of events.

Even so, he pressed on. Now standing at the city border of Central City, the place where G.U.N HQ was located, Dudley was determined to find out why Kitty hadn't showed up before to help him out, as well as uncover the riddle of Steeltrap's words about her too.

What did he mean when he said Kitty thinks I told her get lost? Dudley thought to himself. Did he actually write a letter that resembled my handwriting and spelling style? Is that even possible for somebody as bad of a speller as he is?

Not wanting to ponder too much about it since it was starting to give him a headache inside, Dudley instead decided to ask around and see if he could solve this mystery without having to wrack his brain.

If I can find about what happened here last night, I may learn where Kitty currently is located. He then thought further, the question is, where is she exactly? Was Steeltrap serious when he told me she's no longer on this planet?

Again, he shrugged it off, thinking firmly, No matter, I'll get to the bottom of this soon enough.

Now glancing at the city ahead of him with vigor and determination in his eyes, Dudley declared boldly, "Hold on, Kitty. I'm coming for ya…"

And with that statement, he ran towards Central City as fast as he could. What lied ahead for this wearied mutt, was anyone's guess…

Meanwhile, in another dimension, Tails' transporter finally reached its destination, none other than the planet Mobius.

Once the whirring stopped, Amy asked with intrigue, "Did it work? Are we back home?"

"I'll go check." Tails replied. "Wait here…"

The two tailed fox then slowly opened the door and looked around, soon glancing back at his friends with a big smile on his face, stating confidently, "It worked, guys! We're officially home!"

The second he said that, every Mobian in the machine came running out to see it for themselves. Sure enough, it was indeed true.

And as soon as they knew it, they all began to hoop and holler in excitement, with some running around, some jumping for joy, even Amy and Cream hugging each other tightly in response.

"Boy, I sure missed this place…" Sonic stated with a big grin. "And now it's even better without old Eggbelly here."

Ironically, Kitty hadn't come out yet, as she was still very reluctant inside about her recent decision. A part of her even now felt she had made a terrible mistake in coming here.

Tails though wouldn't let her wallow in her doubt for much longer, saying to her loudly, "Why are you still in there, Kitty? C'mon, don't you want to see our home?"

Not wanting to drag her feet to the point of hurting his feelings, the feline agent slowly stepped out and looked around the area. And the moment she did, her eyes could not help but be amazed what they saw.

"Oh my goodness…!" Kitty exclaimed with awe on her face. "This place… it's so beautiful looking."

"See? I told you that you wouldn't regret coming here." Tails commented with a sly wink.

"You really think I'll like it here?" Kitty inquired, still feeling hesitant.

"I don't think so, I know so…" Tails replied.

Kitty then began to walk around and see all the scenery around Mobius that surrounded her. She couldn't help but feel that this place was indeed as good as Tails had advertised it.

I can't believe how lovely everything looks around here. Kitty thought, still in awe. Even Petropolis didn't have such beautiful scenery like this around its city.

Kitty's emotions then quickly changed, as that word was still a bitter memory to her.

Tails soon noticed it himself, asking, "Something wrong, Kitty?"

The feline agent quickly shook her head, replying, "Never mind… it's something I shouldn't even given another thought."

The two tailed fox though could sense what it was, so he told her softly while looking her in the eye, "Don't let your bitter past ruin your bright future here, Kitty. Since they were so rude and cruel to you, I wouldn't give those morons a second thought."

"You're right, Tails…" Kitty said with a sheepish smile after a brief pause. "I'm not going to let what happened to me ruin all the joy I should be experiencing here."

"That's the spirit." Tails stated, giving her a thumbs up.

Meanwhile, Cream soon heard a familiar voice from a distance, a voice she had not heard in months, a voice she had longed to hear since the Chaos Control incident.

She then gasped in excitement, "Is that… my Mom?"

Cream quickly called out to her to see if it was. Sure enough, it was indeed her mother Vanilla.

Now overwhelmed with joy inside, the young rabbit ran towards her Mom, calling out to her even louder than before.

Within seconds, Cream finally saw her Mom up ahead, where she then embraced her tightly, now crying profusely inside.

Even Vanilla was crying too.

"Oh, Mom… I missed you so much…" Cream exclaimed with tears of joy on her face.

"I missed you too, sweetie." Vanilla replied, now holding her daughter tightly in her heads.

Amy during this time watched on from a short distance with a warm smile on her face. It made her melt emotionally to see her best friend reunited with her Mom.

Vanilla then told her daughter after a brief pause, "After you went missing with the others, I was afraid I'd never see you again."

"Me too, Mother…" Cream told her, still softly sobbing to herself.

The two of them were now at a loss for words, as their touching embrace had left them speechless inside.

Finally, after twelve seconds of silence, Vanilla spoke up, saying to her daughter while looking her in the eye, "but now, you're back. I cannot wait to hear what's happened during our time apart over a nice hot meal together. It must have been quite an adventure."

"It sure was…" Cream reiterated. "Eggman even kidnapped me again."

Vanilla quickly gasped in horror, as Cream told her further, "But thanks to my good friends, and even a new friend I made along the way, I was able to escape unharmed."

"Well, that's good to know." Vanilla commented in relief.

Just then, it hit Cream, saying after letting go of her Mother, "Hang on, I'll go get her so I can properly introduce my new friend to you."

"Really? This new friend of yours came back with you?" Vanilla inquired puzzled.

Cream quickly nodded her head, replying, "Yep, she sure did. Be right back…"

And with that statement, the young rabbit quickly ran off, where she brought back Kitty, basically dragging her over to her Mother the hand as fast and as hard as she could.

"Slow down, Cream." Kitty told her as they ran, now feeling very awkward inside. "You're going to wrench my arm of its socket if you're not careful."

"Oh, sorry, Miss Katswell…" Cream said sheepishly.

However, since they were very close by, Cream didn't have to bring her over much further.

She then said to her Mom after Vanilla saw the feline agent up close, "Mom, I'd like you to meet my new friend, Miss Kitty Katswell…"

Again, Kitty looked on awkwardly, as Vanilla commented with a warm smile, "So, Cream tells me you helped my daughter escape from Eggman."

Kitty now let out a nervous chuckle, as Cream replied for her, beaming with pride, "Yep, she sure did. She even defeated that meanie too. Thanks to her, he won't be bothering us ever again."

Vanilla then looked at the feline agent with gratitude on her face, telling Kitty softly, "Well, if that is indeed true, then I want to personally thank you from the bottom of my heart. It was so thoughtful of you to take care of my daughter in her time of need."

"No need to thank me…" Kitty replied, still chuckling nervously inside. "I was just doing my job."

"And so modest too…" Vanilla stated, now even more impressed. "I can see now why Cream thinks so highly of you, Miss Katswell."

"Please, call me Kitty." The feline agent insisted. "I don't see the need to be addressed formally among friends."

"Very well then, Kitty." Vanilla said. "Well, on behalf of me and my daughter, welcome to Mobius."

"Thanks, Miss Vanilla." The feline agent responded softly. "You're too kind."

Cream then spoke up, saying with a gasp, "Wait a minute, I just thought of something."

"What is it?" the mother rabbit inquired.

"Well, Miss Katswell here is going to need a place to live now that's she here with us."

"That's true, daughter." Vanilla commented, putting a hand on her chin to think. "She does indeed."

"Could Kitty stay with us?" the young rabbit suggested.

Kitty now looked on very awkwardly, saying back, "Stay… here?"

"Sure, why not?" Cream replied, looking at her with a big smile. "We have a guest room, and I couldn't think of a better person to use it than you."

Once again, Kitty felt very awkward inside; as this conversation was going a lot farther than she had thought it would.

Cream then said to her Mom, "Please, Mother, can Miss Katswell stay with us? Please, please, please…'

After seeing her beg with her big adorable eyes, Vanilla replied with a slight chuckle, "How can I say no to such a wonderful idea by my little girl here?"

"You… really mean that?" Kitty asked, still a bit dumbfounded.

"Of course…" Vanilla reiterated. "After all, you did help save my daughter from that evil scientist, Eggman. The least I can do in return is give you a place to stay, at least for now."

Kitty was now in deep thought, thinking a bit overwhelmed, Wow; this is all happening too fast… I go from being an ousted G.U.N agent, to losing my friends at T.U.F.F, to now living with a nice rabbit family.

Kitty then added, Still, I wouldn't want to be rude and turn their generous offer down, especially since I do need a play to stay for now.

"So, will you stay with us, Miss Katswell?" Cream asked, now looking at her with those big adorable eyes as well. "Please say yes. It would mean so much to me."

Ironically, not even Kitty could resist after seeing them, replying with a warm smile, "Well, if it means that much to you… sure, I accept."

In a flash, Cream squealed for joy, as she was now overwhelmed with happiness, hugging the feline tightly from the knees down.

Tails and Sonic meanwhile came walking up, with the blue hedgehog asking, "Hey, what's with all the commotion, guys?"

"Miss Katswell's going to be living with us." Cream said with deep excitement. "Isn't it wonderful?"

"She is?" Tails now pondered this over, commenting a bit nervously, "Well, um, I'm pleased to hear that. I would have gladly cleared some space in my workshop for Kitty to stay in if she had nowhere else to…"

Sonic then interrupted him abruptly, as he slightly poked the two tailed in the ribs with a frown, even clearing his throat a bit loudly too.

Tails quickly got the gist of it, saying while blushing heavily, "Oh, yea… right... maybe I don't need to mention that now…"

Thankfully, Kitty didn't take any offense at his suggestion, replying with a chuckle, "its ok. I appreciate the thought nonetheless."

"Oh, that's good…" Tails chuckled to himself nervously.

"Anyway, we'll let you get settled in." Sonic said after a long pause. "C'mon, Tails, let's go check the condition of your workshop. It's probably very dusty by now."

"Right… good idea." Tails then waved goodbye to Kitty and the two rabbits, saying, "See you guys later."

Kitty, along with Vanilla and Cream waved back at him, as he and the blue hedgehog took off.

After they were out ear's range, Sonic said to his lil bro a bit scoldingly with arched eyebrows, "Make a place for Kitty to stay in your workshop? Are you nuts?"

"What? I was just trying to be nice." Tails replied, shrugging his shoulders while defending himself. "After all, she does need a place to live, right?"

"Yes, that's true…" Sonic then asked him with another glare, "By the way, you didn't happen to suggest that Kitty stay in your workshop so you would be able to…"

Tails instantly cut off his sentence, shouting with fully flushed cheeks at him deeply offended, "WHAT? No, of course not! How could you even suggest such a thing? I'm only eight years old!"

"Sorry, but your motives behind it got me very suspicious, lil bro." the blue hedgehog told him. "No offense."

"Well, ok, I'll admit one of the reasons I suggested that was to maybe have it so I could talk to Kitty anytime I wanted while I'm working on an invention." Tails confessed, still heavily blushing. "And maybe even discuss with her… um, you know, our future together."

"Tails, don't you think you're really jumping the gun here?" Sonic inquired. "I mean, after all, you are only eight, like you said."

"Yea, perhaps…" the two tailed replied hesitantly. "Still, I really need to talk this over with her because I need to know what her feelings about this."

Ironically, Sonic did know her true feelings about Tails, but didn't want to say for fear of making him feel bad. So, he said instead, "Well, good luck to you on that. Just please don't get your hopes too high. I have a strong feeling Kitty isn't going to be as receptive to this idea as you are."

"What do you mean?" Tails inquired. "Do you know something I don't?"

Again, not wanting to hurt his feelings, Sonic answered, "Um, no. But, think about it from her perspective. She's in her twenties, and you're only eight. Would you want to date someone that young if you were her age?"

Tails sadly answered with a sigh, "No, I guess I wouldn't…"

"Ok then…"

"Still, Sonic…" Tails reiterated. "I have to try. I mean, maybe at least we could work some kind of arrangement in the meantime."

"Well, hopefully you two will." Sonic replied with a straight face.

However, he soon thought with his head down as he walked, Poor Tails… he's going to be so crushed when he finds out Kitty doesn't want any part of that kind of relationship with him.

He then added, Well, I guess Tails is going to have to learn about heartbreak sooner or later… it's part of life sadly. I just hope Kitty is gentle with him when she does turn my lil bro down. I'd hate to see him get all depressed inside over it.

Sadly, Sonic didn't think Tails would take it well no matter how it went down. He knew deep down, the two tailed fox was madly in love with the feline agent.

Back at Vanilla's house, Cream quickly began to show Kitty their home and all their rooms.

Once they made it to the guest room, the young rabbit said after opening its door, "Here's where you'll be staying. I hope you like it."

Not surprisingly, Kitty did indeed. It was a quaint moderate sized bedroom with a twin sized bed in the middle, a couple of dressers on the right side of the wall, a book shelf on the left side next to the be. There was even a window to look out from.

Kitty then turned to Cream and commented, "This is really nice looking."

"So, do you like it?" the young rabbit inquired further.

Kitty quickly nodded her head, answering softly, "I do indeed."

Now flashing a big smile on her face, Cream said while clasping her hands together, "Good. I'm so glad to hear you say that."

While Kitty walked around her new room to take a closer look at it, the young rabbit added, "Mr. Vector uses this room sometimes to take a nap when he comes to visit us. He's such a nice guy for a crocodile."

"Really?" Deep down, Kitty didn't know for sure what to think of this, but decided to not inquire further since it was none of her business.

Seconds later, the feline placed her bag of personal belongings on the bed, commenting, "Well, I guess I better start unpacking now."

Cream though didn't give her a chance to do that, as she quickly grabbed her right arm with her hands, saying, "Before you do, you want to see my room, Miss Katswell?"

Kitty soon felt awkward again inside, replying with hesitance, "See your room? Why?"

"Because… I'd really to like to show it to you." Cream explained. She then added with her big adorable eyes, "Please…?"

The feline agent again couldn't resist them, as she soon answered with a smile, "Well, ok then…"

And with that statement, Cream took Kitty by the hand, giggling inside with excitement as they walked towards it. Within twenty seconds, they had arrived, as Cream announced with pride in her voice after opening the door, "Well, here it is… What do you think?"

As Kitty had thought, it was a typical young girl's room. It had a bunch of stuffed animals around, a small child sized bed near the back, crude looking drawings on the walls… it even had a small table where she would have imaginary tea parties with her personal favorite toys.

"You really have a cute room here, Cream." Kitty commented softly, trying to be nice.

Cream again let out a giggle, replying, "Thank you. It makes me happy to hear you say that."

After a long period of awkward silence, Kitty said, "Anyway, I really do need to unpack now. I hope you understand."

Cream did indeed somewhat, but was a bit disappointed the feline agent couldn't have put it off longer.

Kitty slowly walked towards the door, where she then stopped abruptly and turned her to head to flash a warm smile at the young rabbit. "Thanks for asking me to stay here, Cream. You really are such a sweetie."

Cream quickly ran to her and hugged the feline agent from the knees down, saying with another giggle, "You're very welcome, Miss Katswell."

Kitty by this time couldn't help but melt somewhat emotionally at her genuine affection. There wasn't a hint of malice in her whole body.

Cream then added while looking up at her, "I cannot wait to get to know you better now that you're living here with us."

"Really?" Kitty now looked at Cream peculiarly, asking, "You want to know more about me?"

"Of course, silly." The young rabbit reiterated firmly. "You saved me from that meanie Eggman, so why wouldn't I?"

Kitty again flashed a smile at her, saying, "Well, um, I'm very flattered by that, Cream. Thank you."

Cream soon giggled to herself once more, saying with deep excitement, "Just think, Miss Katswell, we'll hang out together, have some tea parties, and even share some personal secrets…" She then said with a euphoric sigh, "We'll be just like sisters."

Kitty immediately arched her eyebrows after hearing that last word, saying, "Pardon me? Did… you just say… sisters?"

Cream quickly nodded her head at the feline agent with another big smile on her face, as Kitty commented with awkwardness, "Um, that's nice and all… but, I thought Amy was already like a sister to you."

"Well, she is in a way…" the young rabbit explained. "But, I look at Miss Amy as my best friend more than anything."

"I see…" Kitty said.

"And besides," Cream reiterated, now looking at her intently "after all you've done for me, I couldn't think of anyone better to call my big sister than you."

Within moments after she said that, tears in the feline agent's eyes began to form, eventually thinking to herself, Cream called me her big sister…

"Are you ok, Miss Katswell?" Cream asked with concern after noticing the moisture in her eyes.

"I'm fine, sweetie." Kitty replied, slightly wiping away the tears with the back of her right hand.

"Then, why are you crying?" the young rabbit inquired further. "Did I do something wrong?"

Kitty quickly shook her head, answering Cream after picking the young rabbit in her arms, "No, you didn't do anything wrong, Cream." She then explained to her, "These are tears of joy."

"I don't understand…" Cream said with puzzlement. "How can you cry happily?"

"Because…" Kitty told her, now hugging the young rabbit tightly in her arms near her face, "I'm just so touched inside you would want to even call me that." She then added, "I never had a little sister while growing up."

Cream again giggled happily, stating with childlike innocence after they let go for a second, "Well, now you do, Miss Katswell. Pretty neat, huh?"

"And I couldn't have asked for a better one." Kitty reiterated, flashing a warm smile back at her.

Within seconds, Kitty hugged her tightly again, thinking to herself while Cream let out another adorable giggle, you know, I think I'm going to love it here.

Even though the feline agent hadn't even been here an hour, she now felt she was finally where she belonged, in a place surrounded with family and friends that cared deeply for her. A place… she could call home.

Back in Central City in the G.U.N hospital, Topaz now sat by Rouge's bedside in a chair, waiting anxiously for her to wake up.

When she first saw Rouge's condition, Topaz couldn't believe how she had survived this long without too many repercussions.

Rouge basically went without food or water for over a week, Topaz thought to herself. How is it possible she's still breathing and her vital signs are even strong?

Deep down, Topaz was very relieved inside that Rouge was indeed alive, but couldn't help but and rack her brain, trying to find out what took place during the raid at Eggman's base.

I was told Rouge had a Chaos Emerald on her when she was discovered, Topaz pondered further. But, that doesn't really tell me a whole lot… she then added after a brief pause while placing a hand under her chin to think, Is it possible those gems from her home planet are really that powerful that they can even sustain life?

Ironically though, this was not the biggest puzzlement of the young female G.U.N. agent. Instead, another thing was starting to bother her even more.

It's been about five hours, and neither Kitty, nor any of her friends have yet to come by to check on Rouge. Surely they've found about her condition by now.

Topaz's mind soon crossed to something to dark.

Do I dare think they don't care about her anymore after she betrayed them in Eggman's base? But, that doesn't mean any sense. From what Kitty told me, they all saw Rouge redeem herself and help them escape. So, that can't be the reason they're not here now.

Topaz then thought again after trying to rack her brain even more, what is their reason for not coming here then? What could they possibly be doing that would be more important than checking on the well being of a fellow friend?

At that moment, Topaz decided to check the message from her voice mail message Kitty had sent her the night before in order to find out more about this mystery.

It basically went like this:

"Topaz, this is Kitty… listen, I know it's late and you're probably getting some well deserved shuteye with your wounded shoulder and all…

But, if you're available now, I really need to talk to you right away. Something very important has come up and I must talk with you about it at the mansion face to face. So, if you get this message, please come right away. I don't have much time left.

Hope to see you soon, my friend.

And with that statement, the message finished.

Topaz then put her phone away, now more deeply troubled inside than before. She could instantly tell it was something very serious by the way Kitty was talking.

What was Kitty trying to tell me? Topaz pondered to herself again. And why did she so sound urgent about meeting her late last night? Did something come up that would make her….

Topaz sadly couldn't finish that thought, as the whole conception of it was something she didn't think would happen.

No, no, Kitty promised me she wouldn't do anything rash, Topaz told herself in her mind, trying to calm her nerves down. And I know she's a person of high standards. She wouldn't just leave so abruptly without telling me or someone else.

Even so, Topaz now had an unshakable chilling feeling in her spine that Kitty may have indeed broken her promise and done the unthinkable.

However, before she could think about it further or even call the mansion to find out, Topaz then heard a soft moan from the hospital bed. She then turned her head, and there she saw some stirring within the bed sheets, making her for now forget about this dilemma concerning Kitty.

Within seconds, Rouge finally blinked her eyes a couple of times and turned on her right side, now facing Topaz, asking weakly while shaking her still aching head, "Ugh, what happened?"

At that moment, Topaz couldn't care less about patient conduct, as she now hugged her bat friend tightly with her non injured arm, saying with tears in her eyes, "Oh, Rouge… I'm so glad you're doing ok now."

Rouge for the time being didn't recognize who was hugging her or the voice due to her vision still being blurry and her ears not as sharp from before due to the blunt blow to the back of her head.

Nevertheless, within ten seconds, it soon cleared up to the point where she did indeed recognize who was now sitting at her beside. Instantly, the female bat almost did a full body cringe, saying completely startled, "Ah, Topaz…! What are you doing here?"

Topaz to say the least, was a bit surprised by Rouge's behavior, but replied nonetheless, "What else, I'm here to support my good friend here."

"Good friend? What are you talking about? I basically betray…"

Topaz then softly shushed her while placing a hand on her right shoulder, saying with a warm smile, "It's ok, Rouge. You don't need to be alarmed or frightened by me being here."

"You mean… you're not angry with me now?" Rouge inquired with arched eyebrows.

Topaz quickly shook her head, replying softly after letting go and sitting down, "No, I'm not."

"I don't understand… I heard what you said to me at the base." Rouge said, still not convinced. "You were devastated after you found out I was helping out Eggman."

"Yes, I was for a time…" Topaz explained. "But, Kitty later came by after the battle and…"

Rouge immediately interrupted her, inquiring with deep curiosity, "Kitty? What did she tell you? She didn't bad mouth further, did she?"

"If that were true, would I be your bedside now, waiting anxiously for the moment you woke up so we could talk again?" Topaz asked her, still looking at her with a warm smile.

Rouge soon placed a hand to think this over, as the young female G.U.N agent soon added, "Kitty basically put in a good word for you when coming to talk with me after she had defeated Eggman."

"She… did that? Really?" Rouge ironically was still not 100% convinced inside that Kitty had done what the female bat had made her promise to do during the battle at the base.

"Yes…" Topaz answered. "She did, and it was because of her, I found out about how you wanted to redeem yourself for my sake, even to the point of sacrificing your own life for the sake of that little rabbit child."

Rouge by this point was feeling very embarrassed inside, replying with a mumble, "Oh, uh, that… Um, well, you see, I…"

Topaz though didn't let her finish, as she again hugged her bat friend tightly, saying with a sniffle, "I'm so proud of you, Rouge. You could have easily followed the same path as before or even deserted us if you chose to, but you didn't. The fact you cared so much about my feelings that you were willing to die if it meant we would defeat Eggman in the process… I'm really touched inside by how selfless you became back there."

Not surprisingly, Rouge did feel guilty inside, as she quickly remembered she almost did indeed desert them. Rouge then said to her friend after a brief pause, trying to downplay the situation, "It was nothing really, Topaz. I knew what had to be done and I did it."

"And it's for that reason why I'm proud to call you my close friend again." Topaz reiterated, now flashing a full warm smile at the female bat.

Rouge by this point lost it emotionally, as her eyes filled with tears, asking, "You… still think of me as your close friend?"

Topaz quickly nodded her head in agreement, now placing a hand on her right shoulder again, "I do indeed…"

In that moment, the two of them hugged each other tightly once more, as both of them now shed tears of sorrow and joy from their happy reunion. Rouge then said to the female G.U.N agent in complete sincerity, trying to keep her voice from crackling up "Thank you, Topaz. I promise you from this point on, I won't ever make you regret taking me back as your friend."

Topaz though replied with a sniffle, "I have no regrets in taking you back, Rouge. You truly have redeemed yourself as far as I'm concerned."

For the next twenty-five seconds, the two of them continued to embrace. Finally, after that, they both let go, where Topaz soon said in a bit of awkwardness after sitting down in her again, "So, um… I hope you don't mind me asking this, but you mind filling me in what happened?"

"About what?" Rouge asked a bit puzzled.

"Well, for starters, how did you end in the underground compartment of Eggman's island base and survive for a week?" Topaz inquired. "I'm really curious by how you were able to live that long without food or water."

At that moment, Rouge asked her a bit perplexed, "Was I really out that long?"

Topaz quickly nodded her head in response, saying, "Yes. In fact, the G.U.N soldiers who found you said they probably wouldn't have seen you had it not been the glowing Chaos Emerald in your pocket."

As Rouge pondered this over, Topaz asked her, "Is it true that Chaos Emerald played a role in saving your life?"

"I wouldn't know for sure…" Rouge answered with hesitance. "I myself don't know what they're fully capable of doing. Still, I wouldn't put it past them to be able to do something of this magnitude. Chaos Emeralds are very powerful gems, brimming with a ton of energy inside of them."

Even now, Topaz couldn't make heads or tails out of this, but said nonetheless, "Anyway, tell me what happened for now at least."

Rouge now nodded her head slightly after a brief pause, replying, "Very well then…"

From that moment on, the female bat went into a full monologue, telling each detail as her mind was able to remember them.

"Well, after my personal conflict with Kitty that led to you finding out my dark secret, I basically did a lot of soul searching inside of me."

"Personal conflict? What do you mean exactly?" Topaz inquired, now very curious inside. "Is that why you have those scars on your cheeks?"

Rouge though downplayed the incident for Kitty's sake since she had put in a good word for her, replying, "Well, not much really happened, but Kitty basically demanded that I confess what I had done behind your back. And since I wanted to rub it in her face… I did so, not realizing you were listening in."

Even now, that memory still pained the female bat deeply inside. Topaz too sadly couldn't help but look back at the memory with sadness in her eyes.

Rouge then continued, "Anyway, for about ten to fifteen minutes, I basically did a lot of thinking… And during that period, I soon realized in spite of Kitty's accusations, you had stood by me the whole time and never lost your trust, even when you easily could have."

"You're a cherished friend of mine, Rouge." Topaz explained. "That's why it actually took your confession for me to believe you had turned traitorous."

Rouge couldn't help but be touched by the fact Topaz had been completely loyal to her. She then said after clearing her throat, "After realizing you had gone out of your way to support me, I couldn't help but feel I had to return the favor, to show you that I wasn't just a conniving, two timing troublemaker."

"And that's when you decided to put your life on the line for Kitty and the others, right?" Topaz inquired.

"Indeed." Rouge answered softly. "I knew it was very risky, especially since I had to block a very powerful Metal Sonic robot of Eggman's for them, but I didn't care about that at the moment. She soon added now looking her friend in the eye, "The only thing that crossed my mind during that battle with Eggman's robot, for the most part… was you, picturing that brokenhearted expression now on your face."

Topaz's eyes immediately moistened again after hearing that, as Rouge added, now feeling mist in her own eyes, "That's how much I wanted to redeem myself, to show not only you and Kitty I had repented of my former ways, but those at G.U.N, including Sonic and his friends too… that I do have a good heart inside of me, and I do indeed care about doing the right thing."

For the next ten seconds, neither of them said anything, as the moment had left both G.U.N agents speechless inside, especially Rouge, who was now in deep thought about that moment.

Topaz though broke the ice, saying, "Go ahead and tell me what happened next."

Rouge softly nodded her head, replying after a brief pause, "Anyway, I basically fought that Metal Sonic robot with everything I had; using every move I knew to try and destroy that vile machine."

Rouge again paused, soon adding with a heavy sigh, "But sadly, Metal Sonic got the jump on me after I was momentarily distracted. It then beat the tar out of me to put it lightly, as I was again and again heavily pummeled by that blue Sonic robot."

Topaz now looked on deeply concerned, asking, "How in the world did you get out there alive? I can't imagine any robot of Eggman's sparing you after all that had happened."

"It didn't spare me." Rouge explained. "I didn't realize it at the time, but another of Eggman's robots ironically actually turned rouge and helped me out."

"What do you mean you didn't realize it at the time?" Topaz inquired deeply puzzled.

Rouge then pointed the bandage on her forehead, replying, "Metal Sonic eventually leveled me hard at a bad angle, where I soon hit my head on one of the edges of the stairs, putting a pretty good sized gash there."

As Topaz gasped in shock, Rouge added, "I was basically in shock, and I don't mean that emotionally. My body had been so jarred by that attack; I could barely even look up to see what was going on without feeling lightheaded."

"So, how did you get out of that room then if you were so badly beaten up?" Topaz asked.

Rouge soon put her head down to relive about the moment in her head, telling Topaz, "Believe it or not, I received an unexpected gift from Eggman's renegade robot."

"The Chaos Emerald?"

Rouge quickly nodded her, replying, "Even now, I still have no idea how it was able to do that, let alone function since Metal Sonic had basically cut it to many pieces, even heavily damaging its vital circuits. But… it did."

After another brief pause, Rouge added, "Thanks to Gamma, as that was he said its name was, I was able to function somewhat with the Chaos Emerald in my possession and track down Eggman in his underground compartment of the base."

"What happened next?" Topaz inquired.

Not surprisingly, Rouge's memory of that incident in there was not very sharp due to being hit with another sharp object, but said nonetheless, "Well, after I traveled down Eggman's emergency elevator to the basement floor, I then saw him preparing to escape in a metal whale."

Topaz again pondered this over, as Rouge added, "From what I could gather, Eggman knew a missile attack was coming and had a plan already to go to evade it entirely."

Rouge then said firmly to her friend, with vigor now in her eyes, "I wasn't about to let him do that. Even though I was still strongly feeling the jarring effects from the gash in my forehead, I vowed to take that mad man down right then and there, and bring him to G.U.N so he could be appropriately punished."

Not surprisingly, the female bat soon sighed heavily, saying while shaking her head in disgust, "But, as you probably already figured out from Kitty, that didn't happen."

"What did happen then?" Topaz inquired, now very curious inside.

"Well, ironically," Rouge answered, looking at the ground again, "I again was hit with a blunt object, this time from behind."

Even now, Rouge felt disgusted inside for letting Eggman get the drop on her that easily, as she explained, "I was standing near one of the corners of the walls near the metal whale, waiting anxiously for him to turn his back to me so I could drop kick that fiend to the ground in one swoop move. Sadly, he never did. Instead, he walked back to fetch something. That's when I decided to try and get the jump on him from another angle when he returned."

"What was he fetching by the way?" Topaz inquired, now more curious than ever.

Rouge quickly shrugged her shoulders, replying, "I don't know. I couldn't tell exactly what it was, but it looked like scraps of busted up robot parts from where I was standing."

The female bat then said to her after clearing her throat, "Anyway, I listened keenly to the sound of his footsteps, waiting for him to draw closer so I could level him at the right moment. But unfortunately, I jumped the gun. I stepped out of my hiding place too soon, expecting to see him within two feet of me."

"What did you see instead?" Topaz asked.

Rouge again shook her head in disgust, replying, "Absolutely nothing. I didn't even see his shadow. I don't know how he did it, but my guess is he somehow amplified the volume of his footsteps with some sort of sound device, making me think he was coming when he really wasn't."

Topaz now lowered her head in sadness, concluding, "And that's when he hit you from behind I take it…"

Rouge softly nodded her head, still sore about that memory, replying with an angry expression on her face, "Yep… I have to give Eggman credit here. He used my keen bat hearing to his advantage, and then made me pay dearly for it."

Topaz was soon in deep thought again, saying, "There's still thing that's troubling me about this though…"

"Like what?" Rouge inquired.

"Well, how come he didn't try to take your Chaos Emerald and then kill you?" Topaz asked. "I mean, it was still in your possession, right?"

"Yes, why do you ask?" Rouge inquired further.

"Because I can't imagine why Eggman would let both of those opportunities go," Topaz said to her, "Especially if those gems do indeed glow in the dark. Can you explain that to me?"

Rouge ironically did have an explanation, replying, "Eggman I believed would have taken the gem from my possession and killed me as well, had he more time that is…"

"What do you mean by that?" Topaz asked.

"By the time he knocked me out cold," Rouge told Topaz, "I overheard from my brief state of consciousness on the floor that the missiles G.U.N was sending to his base would be arriving within two minutes. And since Eggman wasn't sure this part of the base would be spared from getting blasted, he decided to save his own hide instead."

"Wow…" Topaz stated in disbelief. "And to think, he could have become more powerful had he taken a chance."

"Yea, but this is Eggman we're talking about here." Rouge reiterated with arched eyebrows. "He's too cowardly to take that big of a risk if it means he might lose something of value to him."

Topaz apparently couldn't deny that.

Rouge then spoke up after another long pause, saying, "Anyway, I don't remember anything after that. I didn't even hear the missiles exploding above me due to being so hit so hard with a blunt object."

"Wow, that's quite a story." Topaz stated, now in complete awe. "Being hit on both sides of the head, no food or water for a week… you being alive is nothing short of a miracle."

Rouge could only nod her head in response to Topaz's words, as she too realized how lucky she was to come out of there in stable condition.

Topaz then said out of the blue with heavy sigh and sadness in her eyes, "I wish I knew why Kitty and the others haven't come to see you yet. I thought they of all people would be relieved to hear you're alive and well."

Rouge now lowered her head, replying, "Maybe they're still upset about me working with Eggman behind the scenes. I wouldn't blame them if they are."

"But that doesn't make any sense." Topaz argued. "Kitty was the one who told me you had changed for my sake, and if anyone had a right to express ill will at you, it was her."

Rouge was soon in deep thought again, as Topaz added, "No, I just don't believe they're still angry with you. Why would they be? Most of them don't even know the full extent of what you did."

"That's true…" the female bat commented softly. "Plus, Cream would have also put in a good word for me, since I saved her and all."

"Then where are they?" Topaz demanded with disgust, now standing up, looking out Rouge's bedroom window. "This is so inconsiderate of them! I thought these Mobians were supposed to kind hearted individuals."

"Most of us are." Rouge told her with a shrug. "I'm as dumbfounded about it as you are."

Just then, Kitty's voicemail message flashed through Topaz's mind, as a part of it played over in her mind:

Something very important has come up and I must talk with you about it at the mansion face to face.

So, if you get this message, please come right away. I don't have much time left.

Rouge soon happened to notice Topaz in deep thought, asking her, "Is something wrong?"

Topaz quickly shook her head to snap herself back to attention, replying, "Oh, uh, it's nothing really."

Rouge however didn't believe it, as the female G.U.N agent said after clearing her throat, "Anyway, I need to check on something. I'll be back in a bit."

"Is it really that urgent?" the female bat asked with deep intrigue.

"Unfortunately it is." Topaz answered. She then gave Rouge a farewell hug with her non-injured shoulder, adding, "Get some rest, my friend. See you later."

And with that statement, Topaz quickly exited the room. To put it lightly, Rouge too was troubled by her friends' absence.

Is it possible something happened while I was out cold? Rouge pondered to herself.

At that moment, a scary inkling came over the female bat. She had an idea what it could be, but didn't want to believe it actually took place.

They wouldn't just leave back to our home without me, would they?

A week later on the planet Mobius, everyone by this time was soon getting settled in to being back home after being away for so long.

Sonic was now able to run around the open fields at blazing speeds with the wind in his face and very little buildings in his path to slow him down. It was one thing he had really missed after being transported to Central City.

Tails meanwhile soon cleaned up his dusty workshop, where he soon began working on a new plane since he couldn't bring the X-Tornado with him.

I'll make one even better than the one I worked with Chris' grandfather, the two tailed fox thought to himself a tear in his eye. It'll be my personal tribute to him and Chris.

Since he had brought the manuals of that jet with him, Tails was able to perform this task without too much trouble at all.

As soon as I get enough parts, I'll be able to build this in no time, he added.

As for Amy, she soon began to resume her daily life as well, getting physically stronger everyday from noble sacrifice of giving blood for Sonic. One of the things she did to help keep her busy in the meantime was try new recipes from Helen's cookbook, as she had brought that along with her during the trip back home. She was determined to get better at making food since she figured it was a step to winning her true blue's heart.

Once my Sonikku's sees how good of a cook I've become, Amy thought to herself, I just know he'll love me more. I mean, after all, even I know a way to man's heart is through his stomach.

Cream on the other hand, during this time just enjoyed having her life back to normal, from making up for lost time with her Mom, as well as spending more personal time with Kitty to get to know her better. To her, true happiness was being with those you love most.

And not surprisingly, Knuckles returned to the Mobius Angel Island, where he again resumed his duties as the Guardian. What was surprising though was the fact he eventually became very lonely inside. Spending countless hours by himself soon began to wear on him emotionally. It just wasn't the same anymore.

Knuckles soon let out a heavy sigh, commenting, "Man, it's just too quiet around these parts now. It's really starting to get to me."

Ironically, not having Rouge around now to try and steal his Master Emerald in a way made things very dull and boring. It wasn't that he enjoyed her trying to steal his gem, but it in a way kept things interesting for the red echidna. Not to mention he enjoyed a good fight with her every now and then. It was actually one of his strange perks in life.

I sure miss that troublemaking bat, Knuckles thought to himself with sadness. She was a pain, no doubt, but an interesting individual nonetheless. We had some really good battles together.

Even more ironic now, was the fact his feelings of being lonely didn't begin to hit so close to home until after he had gotten acquainted with a certain feline agent. Even he sadly couldn't explain this new feeling within him concerning her.

"I don't understand myself anymore." Knuckles muttered to himself, shaking his head. "I used to be ok with being by myself, enjoying a good fight here and there with the batgirl… But now, I feel a strong urge inside of me to have a companion by my side, someone like…"

The red echidna instantly stopped himself, saying to his feelings with a scold, "Get a hold of yourself, Knuckles! You're a Guardian of the Master Emerald! You can't have a female with you on the job! It would distract you; it would keep you from your life's calling. It would…"

Again, he couldn't finish the sentence, as he soon let out another sigh with disgust, "It would keep me from being lonely at least…"

Even now, Knuckles couldn't explain what had happened to him. It was something he had never experienced before.

"Is it possible I really do deep down like that feline?" Knuckles asked himself bluntly. "But why, why all of a sudden do I want to have her as more than a friend? What's happened to me?"

Not surprisingly, Knuckles knew what had happened to him, but didn't want to admit it to himself. He had in a sense fallen in love with Kitty. Or at the very least, he was now smitten by her. Whichever it was, he still wasn't sure.

Nevertheless, Knuckles refused to act upon these desires inside of him, telling himself firmly again, "She may be a genuine gal inside, and it would be nice to have her by my side, no doubt, but I will not pursue her in the least. Besides, she probably doesn't have any feelings for me anyhow."

Little did he realize, that couldn't have been the farther from the truth.

Speaking of Kitty, she too was enjoying her new life on Mobius. It was indeed a wonderful place to live on as Tails had told her. It may not have been anything like Petropolis or Central City, but that didn't matter to her. She was now happy for the first time in months.

Strangely though, while life on Mobius was very peaceful and serene for her, it was in a way too peaceful. Kitty ironically soon began to miss the thrill of being a secret agent, putting villains in their place.

When these feelings inside of her began to manifest a bit too strongly, she instantly rebuked them, telling herself in her mind, Kitty, you're not going down that path again. You made that mistake once before and it cost you dearly. The thrill of adventure is not worth it if it means losing your family and friends.

Ironically, like Knuckles, she too felt like a hypocrite inside. As much as she tried to corral these feelings of hers and bury them deep inside, they just wouldn't go away. It soon even began to gnaw at her to the point she caught herself at times daydreaming of fighting crime.

Despite the fact she had a wonderful family taking care of her in Vanilla and Cream, and good friends like Sonic, Tails and Knuckles to hang out with, it sadly now wasn't enough to keep her content.

"I cannot believe this…" Kitty muttered to herself. "What is wrong with me? How can I be such a fool even now? I suffered so much because I wanted to more of a challenge when fighting villains, and yet a part of me still wants to get back in the saddle!"

What made these feelings within her even more frustrating to handle was the fact she quickly realized she hadn't felt very content inside after Snaptrap had been declared dead. Not even defeating Eggman as a G.U.N agent had satisfied her as much as she would have liked.

I just feel so confused inside now… Kitty thought with sadness in her eyes. I really do love it here, but yet I still feel a big hole in my heart at the same time.

Deep down, Kitty didn't know what to do about these feelings within her. Nonetheless, she vowed to move on and do her best not to think about her past life.

It may be very hard, Kitty thought again, but I'm sure these nagging desires will fade away soon enough if I can find enjoyment from something else.

Again sadly, she felt like a big hypocrite inside while trying to tell herself that. Her mind was saying one thing, but her heart clearly said another.

Meanwhile in Tails' workshop, Amy soon came by to visit after finding out Sonic was now there, chatting with his two tailed friend about personal stuff.

The second she opened the door, both of them turned their heads a bit startled, but soon relaxed inside, waving at her.

"Oh, hey, Amy." Sonic greeted softly. "What brings you by here?"

The pink hedgehog shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, replying, "Not much really. Just wanted to stop by and spend some time with my beloved hero is all…"

"Oh?" Both Sonic and Tails looked at her awkwardly.

Amy quickly nodded her head, adding, "After all, I do want us to develop a closer friendship with you, Sonikku, so I thought I come to see you and…"

Sonic then interrupted her, inquiring with arched eyebrows, "Ok, Amy, what's this really about?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, trying to keep a straight face.

Sonic quickly crossed his arms together, telling her, "I know you didn't come by just to chat. You have something else on your mind. I can smell it."

Amy again tried to blow that notion off, but Sonic looked at her with a frown, saying while she mumbled something, "C'mon, just spit it out already. You can tell me."

By this point, the pink hedgehog finally sighed in defeat, replying, "Ok, fine, you caught me. I do have an ulterior motive for coming here."

While the two of them looked at her intently, Amy added, "I actually was hoping to talk to you privately, Sonikku, but when I saw Tails here, I thought I'd just shoot the breeze in the meantime."

"There's no need for secrets." Sonic told her. "You can tell me in front of my best bud."

Amy though still wasn't convinced she could, but when Sonic persisted, she finally said with another sigh, "Ok, fine, if you insist." She then said, "I actually came by to ask you if you would have a picnic with me tomorrow afternoon.

"A picnic?" Both Sonic and Tails said this in unison.

Amy nodded her head, explaining, "Well, since you do owe me a date, I thought I'd make it a special one. I even have been trying out some new recipes that I wanted you to taste."

Sonic again looked on awkwardly, as he did remember again he owed her. Tails though said in response with a smile, "Really? That's cool. You mind if I come along?"

Amy now looked on a bit nervously, answering, "Sorry, Tails, but I want this picnic to be just me and Sonic. I hope you understand."

Tails thankfully did, but was still very disappointed. Sonic meanwhile spoke up soon after, saying, "Hang on, Amy. Why can't he come along? After all, I think he ought to be able to try your cooking too."

"Because we won't get any alone time if he comes along." Amy argued. "You know the old saying, "Two's a company, and three's a crowd."

Sonic couldn't argue with that, but still wouldn't let it drop, suggesting, "Well, why don't you at least bring an additional picnic basket for him to have by himself?"

"That still won't keep him away from us." Amy argued again. She looked at the two tailed fox, adding sheepishly, "Nothing personal by the way, Tails. But seriously, Sonic, Tails will want to hang out with us, and this time, I just want it between you and me."

Sonic now frowned at her, stating, "Amy, don't you think it's time you quit being so exclusive with me for a change?"

Amy quickly stuttered to find a rebuttal, as the blue hedgehog soon added, "I know you like me a lot, but I don't appreciate you wanting to shun Tails just to get to know me better. That isn't a trait I find very attractive."

"But, Sonic…" Amy whined. "We'll never be closer friends if we don't get that alone time. How can we develop a relationship if it's never given a chance to bloom?"

"Well, you wanting to hog me all to yourself certainly isn't going to make it bloom." Sonic shot back. "If anything, it's going to turn me off and make me think you're a bit selfish."

Amy was instantly offended by that statement, saying with a heavy frown, "How could you even suggest a thing after I almost died to save your life?"

Sonic now tried to do damage control on his previous statement, telling her sheepishly, "Look, I'm not saying you're selfish, ok? You aren't. That took a lot of heart to risk your life for me."

"Even so…" the blue hedgehog reiterated firmly before she respond. "One noble act on your part isn't going to last if the rest of them aren't. I want to see that kind of selflessness from you on a consistent basis."

After hearing that, Amy couldn't find too much fault with his previous statement, soon saying in response after a brief pause, "Well, I guess you do have a point there."

Sonic then put a hand on her right shoulder with his right hand, saying with a smile, "Trust me, you bringing Tails along will actually do more to win me over than having three hours to ourselves."

Amy though still wasn't ready to concede to this notion just yet, soon suggesting, "Well, how bout we invite someone to come along too then?"

"Someone else?"

"Yea, Sonic, someone that Tails can hang out with and wouldn't feel all by himself."

Sonic though wasn't too sure of that idea, replying, "I dunno… it sounds unnecessary if you ask me."

Nonetheless, to try and be fair, he asked the pink hedgehog, "Who did you have in mind?"

"Well, how about Cream?"

"Cream?" Sonic and Tails again both said this in unison.

"Yea, why not?" Amy inquired. "I mean, Cream and Tails are friends. I'm sure Tails wouldn't mind hanging out with her." She then asked looking at the two tailed fox intently, right?"

Tails though wasn't too keen on the idea, saying in response, "Well, I suppose that wouldn't too bad of an idea. I mean, she is very sweet for a young rabbit."

"Ok then, I'll ask Cream to join us and… uh oh..."

"What do you mean uh oh?" Sonic asked Amy.

"I just remembered… Cream is going to be helping her Mom bake cookies tomorrow." The pink hedgehog replied softly. "Shoot, I guess she can't come then."

Sonic though wasn't too disappointed, neither was Tails, as the blue hedgehog said with a shrug, "Oh well, no big deal… it'll still be the three of us and we'll all have a good time together."

Again though, Amy wasn't ready to accept that idea, saying, "Hold on a minute… maybe we could invite someone else to the picnic."

"Who else is available?" Sonic inquired, now arching his eyebrows. "I mean, Knuckles is too busy guarding the Master Emerald, and the Chaotix are away looking for detective work."

"That's true…" Amy stated softly. Seconds later though, a big smile came over her face, saying, "Wait just a minute… I know who we could invite, and it would be an even better choice for Tails than Cream."

"Who?" Sonic and tails asked in unison a third time.

Amy at first hesitated to say it since it was a bit on awkward idea, but replied after a long pause, "How about we invite Kitty to join us?"

"Kitty?" Sonic this time said it by himself, now heavily frowning. Tails though grinned from ear to ear, as the blue hedgehog added, "Are you out of your mind? We can't have her come along and be with Tails by herself. It would be way too creepy."

"No it wouldn't." Amy argued. "It would be like a double date, but actually a group thing."

"Double date?" Again, Sonic said this with a frown, saying, "Are you actually suggesting that they…?"

"No, of course not." Amy replied. "I know they're not technically dating, and I wouldn't dare suggest that they do, but she would at least keep Tails company, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind having a picnic with her."

"Forget it, Amy." Sonic said sharply. "It just wouldn't be right. They're way too different in…"

Tails finally interrupted him, saying with a big grin still on his face, "Don't be ridiculous, Sonic. I'd love to have her come along."

"Tails, you're not thinking clearly here." Sonic told him. "Do you honestly believe she'd want to come along and have a picnic with someone as young as you?"

The two tailed fox was soon in deep thought, as Amy soon spoke up, saying, "Well, we could at least ask her. What could it hurt? If she says no, then fine, it'll be just the three of us."

Sonic still wasn't ready to accept her suggestion, replying, "It still would be way too awkward for her. You know that."

Amy then said, trying to appeal to him through Tails' emotions, now placing a hand on the blue hedgehog's shoulder, "Tails really wants her to come along, especially since he's very fond of her.

Sonic immediately almost did a double take, asking, "Wait, you know about his crush?"

"Of course I do." Amy replied softly with a nod. "I can tell he has a big soft spot for that feline." She then added, pouring it on, "Look, Sonic, the point is, Tails really adores Kitty. You and I both know that. And yes, their age is a bit of a gap."

"It's more than a bit of a gap." Sonic argued. "It's…"

"Even so…" Amy reiterated interrupting, "How can you say no when you know how happy it would make Tails to have her come along?"

Sonic was now in deep thought, replying with a sigh, "I dunno… I just don't like this idea at all. I feel it's completely inappropriate."

"Don't be silly." Amy told him. Tails and Kitty are just going to a picnic as friends. They're not going to do anything other than enjoy a nice lunch and chat." She then looked at Tails and inquired with a sly wink, "Right?"

Tails quickly heavily blushed inside, answering, "Oh, yes, of course… I…I…I would be a perfect gentleman around her."

"See, Sonic?" Amy said with a smile. "You're worried over nothing."

Sonic though still felt uneasy, but finally conceded for the sake of his best bud, replying with another heavy sigh, "Well, all right then…"

Amy now squealed in delight, clasping her hands, saying, "Thank you, Sonikku. You won't regret this."

I already am sadly, Sonic thought to himself in response.

After a brief pause, Amy soon cleared his throat and said, "Well, I guess I better prepare for tomorrow then. I'll even drop by Cream's house and give Kitty the invite."

"Wait, you're going to be the one who invites her?" Sonic inquired with arched eyebrows.

"Sure, why not? You don't mind, do you, guys?"

Tails quickly spoke before Sonic could, replying, "Sure, go ahead. It's fine by me."

Amy then nodded her with a smile, "Ok then, I'll see you guys later."

Before she could turn to leave though, Sonic reiterated firmly to the pink hedgehog, "If she turns it down, I expect you to come right back and tell us, ok?"

Amy again nodded her head, replying, "Of course. Anyway, talk care."

And with that statement, Amy quickly left the workshop.

Once she was gone, Sonic turned to Tails, saying with his arms crossed while glaring at him, "You and I both know this is really a bad idea."

"Oh, c'mon, Sonic." Tails protested. "It's not that bad. Besides, maybe it'll give me and Kitty the chance to see where we stand as friends."

"I'm telling you, Tails, she's not going to be that open about your suggestion." Sonic reiterated. "I think it would be best if you didn't even bring it up."

"But I have to…" the two tailed fox whined. "Even if she does turn me down, maybe we could work something out that would be just as good. Who knows?"

By this point, Sonic gave up trying; thinking to himself with sadness, Kitty is going to break his heart tomorrow. I just know it, and the real sad thing is, I know it won't be done intentionally either. But, I guess this is the only way T2 is going to learn. Life isn't always fair.

Back in Central City, Topaz finally made it to the Thorndyke mansion, running there on foot as fast she could. During the time there, she feared the worst about Kitty, thinking to herself, please tell me I didn't trust her for nothing.

She soon made her way inside, calling out loudly, "Kitty? Sonic? Tails? Amy? Anyone home?"

Not surprisingly, she got no answer in response. After a twenty second pause, the female G.U.N agent went from room to room, even going upstairs, looking for any sign of her and the Mobians.

Sadly, her search came up empty. This sadly only enhanced her fears.

"Where is everyone?" Topaz asked with frustration. "Did they really just leave like that?"

Five minutes later, after checking every room twice just to be on the safe side, Topaz was fully convinced something had indeed happened.

"I can't believe this…" Topaz stated with sadness. "It looks like they really did take off. But why?"

Just then, after walking back into the living room, she now noticed a paper on top of the fireplace. With her curiosity getting the best of her, Topaz ran over and read it with her non-injured shoulder.

Within seconds, tears began to form in her eyes. Her worst fears were now confirmed.

"No… Kitty… why? Why did you do this?" Topaz asked with a sniffle. "Why would you want to leave everything behind just because of one altercation?"

At that moment, the female G.U.N agent felt betrayed by Kitty's actions, even a bit stabbed in the back. Nonetheless, after reading the note thoroughly, she understood there was more to the story than what she knew.

Not surprisingly, Topaz didn't blame Kitty as much as the Commander. It was his actions that had driven the feline agent to leave bitter and broken hearted.

I hope you're proud of yourself, Commander! Topaz thought with rage in her eyes. She's gone now, and it's all your fault!

Ironically, Topaz even blamed herself as well, adding, why didn't I leave my phone on? I should have known Kitty was emotionally fragile now, but I thought the Mobian creatures would help her with that in the meantime. I guess they did all right… they convinced her to come along with them.

What made this even worse was the fact Topaz knew she was going to have to break the news to Rouge about their departure.

If I took it hard, I know Rouge is going to take it ten times as much. Topaz thought to herself again.

For the next thirty seconds, Topaz lowered her head in sadness. This unfortunately was too much for her to handle now.

She then spoke up softly afterwards, commenting, "I'm sure going to miss her alot. She was such a kind hearted individual, even if she was a Mobian cat."

Seconds later, however, Topaz heard some rustling outside. Quickly putting not in her pocket, she then ran towards the front yard, and there she saw the culprit.

"Hold it right there, you!" she shouted at him, pointing a gun at him with her non injured arm from her right holster. The culprit was none other than a familiar large white dog, bending down at the moment to pick up a piece of paper that was eroded from last night's rainstorm.

Dudley quickly stood up with his hands in the air, saying with despair, "Don't shoot me, mean lady! I'm not doing anything bad."

"Then why are you here?" Topaz demanded. "And why is it you look like one of the Mobian creatures?"

"Mobian what?" Dudley had never heard this term before. "What are you talking about, mean lady?"

"Stop calling that that!" Topaz told him sharply, now completely irritated by that name. "You're from the planet Mobius, are you not?"

Dudley quickly shook his head in response, telling her, "No, I'm from Petropolis. I have no idea what Mobius is."

"Wait a sec, Petropolis…?" Just then, it hit Topaz. "Do you happen to know who Kitty is?"

Hearing his name quickly jolted him to attention, replying, "Yes, I'm looking for her. Petropolis, the city I just mentioned has been overrun by an arch nemesis of ours. I need her help to try and recapture the city from this villain's clutches at once."

Topaz soon put her gun back in its holster, replying with a heavy sigh soon after, "I'm afraid you're too late, white puppy. Kitty's long gone."

"The name's Dudley." He reiterated. "And what do you mean she's long gone? Did something happen to her?"

"Yes, unfortunately so." Topaz replied. "Read this."

Topaz then showed the large white dog the letter from her pocket; where he too soon began have moisture appear in his eyes, saying in shock, "No… It can't be! This can't be happening! Please tell me this is one big joke!"

"I'm sorry, Dudley." Topaz told him with a look of sadness of her own, shaking her head. "It's true. Kitty has officially left for Mobius."

Dudley then said to the female G.U.N agent in response, "Then what are we waiting for, lady? Let's board for this planet too."

"It's Topaz." She reiterated. "And it's not that simple. I don't even know how Kitty left for Mobius, but according to this letter, she's there now."

"WHAT?" Dudley soon looked at Topaz in shock, asking, "Are you trying to tell me there's no way of getting to her now?"

"As of this moment… no." Topaz replied, lowering her head in sadness. "I'm sorry, Dudley."

Dudley instantly dropped to his knees, shouting with a loud sob in deep despair while his arms were stretched out towards the sky, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO! KITTY! WHY? WHY? WHY?"

By this point, Topaz felt very awkward inside by his outburst, eventually saying after a small pause, "Anyway, I have some people I must talk to now. See you later, Dudley."

"Wait, let me come with you." Dudley suggested, now standing up. "I need to find out what caused Kitty to do this. This isn't like her at all."

"I'm sorry, Dudley." Topaz replied. "I can't help you out here. I'm heading back towards G.U.N, and they don't allow any civilians or foreigners in your case inside."

"But I have to know!" Dudley protested. "Kitty was my best friend!"

"And she was mine too." Topaz reiterated. "However, it would only lead to problems if you came along. Kitty didn't exactly leave G.U.N on good terms, if you catch my drift."

"Well, what I am supposed to do then?" Dudley argued. "I have no home to call my own now."

"Stay here at the mansion until I return." Topaz suggested. "At the very least, see if you can find out anymore evidence for to what exactly caused Kitty to leave. I get the feeling there's more to it than just her spat with the Commander."

Topaz then added, seeing the wrinkles under his eyes, "Besides, you look like someone who's exhausted now. I think it would be best if you got some sleep for the time being.

Dudley unfortunately couldn't argue with this, as he soon nodded his head wearily, "I guess you're right. I am very tired at the moment."

Topaz nodded her head in response, saying, "See you later, Dudley.

And with that statement, she turned to leave.

As she did so, Dudley turned back to look at the mansion, looking it over intently. In spite of the fact it looked cozy and luxurious, even after all the damage from Eggman's robots, he still was too preoccupied with Kitty's decision to even enjoy staying at a mansion, let alone sleeping in it.

He then glanced at the eroded note in his hand, thinking to himself, I've got to find out what was on this piece of paper. It may be an essential clue to finding out what caused Kitty to leave.

The note sadly, had been so eroded by this time that most of the letters had heavily faded to the point of being unreadable.

Nevertheless, due to being physically drained, Dudley would indeed do as Topaz suggested and get some well deserved shuteye before looking more into it. He was clearly beat from the long walk from Petropolis.

Meanwhile at Vanilla's home, Amy soon made her way towards Kitty's room to talk with her. As it turned out, the feline agent at the moment was doing her daily calisthenics, currently doing some pushups on the floor.

Amy soon commented with a giggle while placing a hand over her mouth as she watched, "Well, aren't you the disciplined female, doing exercises even with no missions coming up."

Kitty quickly stood up a bit embarrassed at someone peeking in, replying while flexing the muscles in her right arm, "Eh, what can I say? I like to stay fit and trim."

"I can clearly see that…" Amy stated with a bit of awkwardness in her voice. She then cleared her throat and said, "Anyway, I came by to talk with you about something."

"Oh? Like what?" Kitty inquired, now curious inside, looking at the pink hedgehog intently.

"Well, I guess I'll start off by personally apologizing for the way I treated you in the past." Amy said, looking at the floor embarrassed while rubbing her right foot against it.

As the feline agent looked at her peculiarly, Amy added, "I haven't been very nice to you since we've met, and that was very wrong on my part." She now looked Kitty in the eye, saying further, "So, I wanted to say I'm sorry for being kind of bratty around you. I… was just really scared Sonic was going to fall in love with you instead of me and it began to really eat at me to the point I was rude and inconsiderate to try and hide my feelings."

Kitty now dropped her guard as Amy asked her with genuine sincerity, "Can you ever forgive me for my uncalled for behavior?"

Kitty quickly smiled at her in response, answering, "Of course. I couldn't hold a grudge against you anyway. I mean, I knew you were madly in love with Sonic, so I just overlooked it whenever it came up."

"Oh, that's good to know…" Amy replied, soon chuckled nervously. Her facial expressions soon changed to serious, as she said to her intently, "Although, I'm actually surprised you didn't find him attractive or wanted to pursue him at all."

"Why's that?" Kitty asked.

"Well… you do have to admit, Kitty." Amy reiterated. "Sonikku's very good looking, as well as heroic."

"Yes, that is true…" Deep down, the feline agent did think Sonic was handsome and a bit appealing for a guy.

"So why didn't you ever try and woo him?" the pink hedgehog inquired. "I mean, I'm sure it wouldn't have been hard for you to win him over since you're already quite the heroine yourself."

"Because, Amy…" Kitty reiterated. "I just found Sonic too wild for my tastes. He clearly is a free spirit who doesn't want to settle down and mature, at least for now. Not to mention I got my fill of that behavior with a partner whose name I won't mention due to being such a wild man himself."

"Oh, I see…" Amy replied, now more relieved inside.

"Personally, the kind of guys I find more appealing are those who are not only strong heroically, but are mature and reserved emotionally." Kitty explained.

"You mean like Knuckles?" the pink hedgehog inquired.

Kitty quickly blushed in response to his name, replying, "Er, yea… I suppose."

Amy soon happened to notice her flushed cheeks as well, making her somewhat suspicious about how she really did feel about the red echidna inside.

Kitty then abruptly changed the subject, asking with a clearing of the throat, "Anyway, what did you come by to see me about? I know it just wasn't to patch up our differences."

"Oh, yes, that…" Amy soon remembered why she had visited, saying, "Well, I actually came by to ask if you would like to join us on a picnic tomorrow afternoon."

"A picnic?" Kitty inquired.

"Yea." Amy replied. "Sonikku and I are finally going to have our date tomorrow in the meadows enjoying a picnic basket, and I thought you might like to come along."

Kitty by this point didn't know what to ask, replying, "Um, that's really nice of you to offer, but won't I get in the way of your date if I'm with you guys?"

"Oh, not at all." Amy answered with a smile. "I invited someone to join us too."

"Really? Who?" Kitty asked, now deeply curious.

"Well, I hope you don't mind, but I also asked Tails to be apart of the occasion." Amy explained.

"Tails? Why him?" Kitty inquired with arched eyebrows.

"Well, he overheard about our picnic date and wanted to have some of the food I'll be bringing along tomorrow." Amy told her. "And since I wanted to make Sonic happy, I agreed to let him come along."

Kitty now looked at the pink hedgehog awkwardly, as Amy added, "And besides, no point in just me and Sonic having a good time. You two should have a good time too."

Oh great, is Amy playing matchmaker behind my back? Kitty thought, feeling the awkward levels within her rise dramatically inside.

"So, what do you say? You want to come along, Kitty?" Amy had asked her this as sweet and surypingly as possible. "I would really love to have you join us."

By this time, Kitty finally sighed heavily, turning around while shaking her head. This of course perplexed Amy as the feline agent told her after a brief pause, "I appreciate the offer, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline."

"What? Why?" Amy asked, now deeply disturbed about her answer. "It'll be a lot of fun."

"For you and Sonic." Kitty reiterated, quickly turning around to face her with a frown. "It's going to nothing but awkwardness for me and Tails."

"Oh, c'mon, Kitty, you're clearly over thinking things here." Amy protested. "It's just going to be a nice lunch between you guys. Besides, Tails I know really wants to have you there."

"That's exactly why I cannot come." Kitty told her sharply. "He's going to try and hit on me, and I just can't deal with this now. I already feel creeped out enough by the fact he's madly in love with me."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Amy responded with her hands at her hips, "Tails would never hit you in any…"

"You know what I mean, Amy." Kitty reiterated firmly. "He's more than likely going to tell me his true feelings about me, and I really don't want to talk about it, nor do I even want to ponder them in my mind. I'm starting to feel like a child predator by how far this is going between me and him."

"That's crazy talk!" Amy stated in shock. "None of us would dare think that of you. You're a genuine individual who would never harm a young one."

"And that's why I'm turning your invitation down." Kitty reiterated again. "I cannot have my reputation soiled by even a hint of this."

"Kitty, please, you gotta come." Amy begged. "Tails even told me he was going to be a perfect gentleman around you. Surely that should put you at ease somewhat."

"Actually, it doesn't." Kitty replied. "If anything, that only enhances my fears of what will take place tomorrow."

Amy again tried to plead her case, but the feline agent finally put a hand up, saying while turning her head, "I'm sorry; Amy, but I just can't help you here. I know you mean well, but putting me and Tails together on a picnic will only lead to disaster."

Amy by this point began to feel panic inside, as Kitty added, "I hope you'll understand. It's nothing personal."

Amy though did take it personal. She then walked over to the feline agent and grabbed her by the right arm with both hands, now saying in sheer desperation, "Please, Kitty, you have to come… I'm begging you."

Kitty tried to wrench away as gently as she could, but Amy refused to let go, adding, "I never get any alone time with Sonic. I really want to show him I'm the one for him, but I'll never get that opportunity if Tails is there and hangs out with us."

Ironically, Kitty soon began to soften up inside. Amy then said, now with tears in her eyes, "This date has to go well tomorrow. It just does. This is my one big chance of Sonikku and I becoming closer friends."

Kitty now let out a frustrated sigh, as the pink hedgehog told her with a whimper, "Please look into your heart and help a lovesick girl out. Please, I am at the point of getting on my knees here."

Amy then added to reiterate her point further, "If you were going on a date with a guy you really liked, wouldn't you also want everything to go perfectly so it would have a chance to develop into something special?"

Ironically, Kitty couldn't help but think about Knuckles when she asked this.

After another long pause, Amy said, "Just come for a couple of hours at least. That's all I'm asking. Surely nothing can go wrong in that short span of time."

Kitty again let another sigh, this one a lot heavier than the previous on, inquiring, "Ok, how many hours are we talking here?"

"At least two." Amy answered. "Maybe as many as three."

By this time, Kitty finally decided to relent, though with extreme reluctance, replying with rolled eyes, "Very well then. I'll come for two hours, three if you're lucky."

Amy quickly squealed with delight, hugging Kitty tightly from the midsection, saying, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you… you're the best, Kitty."

Amy had hugged the feline agent so tightly, she could barely breathe. Nonetheless, Kitty responded with a painful grunt, "Ok, ok, ok, you don't need to break my ribs here to show your gratitude."

"Oh, sorry…" Amy finally let go, saying with a warm smile while clasping her hands together, "You just have no idea how much this means to me."

Actually, I do have a pretty strong indication. Kitty thought to herself, but replied to be nice, "You're welcome."

Amy then turned around to leave, saying while heading for the door, "Well, I guess I better get back to my home then. I have a lot of cooking to do tonight."

"Yea, you do that…" Kitty said softly.

Before she exited the room though, Amy said to Kitty nonchalantly, "Oh, and if possible, come to the picnic wearing something behind that same old jumpsuit of yours. You really could use a wardrobe change for once in your life."

Says the girl who wears nothing but a pink dress. Kitty thought with arched eyebrows. Nonetheless, she said again to not be rude, "I'll think about it."

Amy though didn't respond, as she quickly left the room, now with a real spring in her step.

Kitty on the other hand shook her head with a heavy sigh, thinking again, what have I gotten myself into? I can't believe I let Amy talk me into this. I just know this will not go well for me or Tails.

Even so, the feline agent understood she had now given her word. And since had already broken a promise with Topaz, Kitty would not break this one for the sake of her reputation and show up, though not with pure enthusiasm.

She then thought to herself, now looking out her window, please don't try and woo me tomorrow, Tails. I really don't want to hurt you.

Deep down though, she felt it was inevitable. Sooner or later, the two tailed fox was going to mention his love for her. And when he did, she knew it was not going to end well in the least when she had to turn him down.

Back in Central City, Topaz ran towards G.U.N HQ, wanting a word with the Commander about her recent discovery.

Not surprisingly, he was in the middle of a meeting with a few of his generals, discussing the current victory over Eggman.

Nevertheless, Topaz bursted into his office unexpectedly, opening the double wide door abruptly. This not only startled the Commander, but the generals too.

"Agent Topaz, what do you think you're doing in here?" Commander Tower demanded. "I'm in the middle of an important meeting."

"It's going to have to wait!" Topaz shouted loudly, "I have a bone to pick with you!"

"What did you say?" the G.U.N Commander inquired with a heavy frown. "Did you just dare say what I thought you said?"

"Yes, I did." Topaz reiterated sharply, still glaring at him.

"Agent Topaz, you better get out of here if know what's good for you." Commander Tower told her angrily. "You are really testing my patience now, injured shoulder or not."

Topaz though wouldn't budge, saying, "I have an update for you about Agent Katswell, one I think you had better see."

"I don't have time to hear another sob story from her." Commander Tower replied. "She knows what she did, and that's that."

Topaz finally pulled out the note, saying while that same frown, "I personally found a letter from her, and it's a big one if you catch my drift."

"Unless it's a personal apology, I couldn't care less about it." The G.U.N Commander told her. "As of this moment, this discussion is closed. Now, please leave at once. I don't want to have to discipline you for this nonsense."

"Oh, that's fine." Topaz shot back. "I'll just leave the note for all of your generals to read then."

As she dropped the letter in front of them on his desk, Topaz added with sarcasm, "After all, it's not like it has anything it that makes you look bad or anything."

Commander Tower now picked up the note out of curiosity and read it thoroughly. Within seconds, his eyebrows arched, making him turn to his generals, saying to them, "Leave my quarters for the time being."

"Are you sure, sir?" one of them inquired, now a bit puzzled by his sudden change of behavior

"Yes." The G.U.N Commander nodded firmly. "Since Agent Topaz is making this a personal issue, allow me to handle it one on one. Take a fifteen minute break in the meantime."

"As you wish, Commander." Another general replied.

And with that statement, they all left the room.

As soon as they cleared out, Commander Tower said to her with a frown, "Please tell me this is a joke, Agent Topaz. Surely you're not suggesting Agent Katswell actually quit G.U.N over a little dispute."

"Yes, she did." Topaz reiterated sharply. "I went by the mansion today. It was completely empty. There was nobody there except for a note left on the mantle of the fireplace."

Commander Tower soon furrowed his eyebrows, as Topaz soon slammed a hand from her non injured arm on his desk, shouting with disgust "You ought to be real proud of yourself, Commander. Thanks you to you and your bullying ways, she's gone, and I doubt she'll ever come back now either!"

Commander Tower didn't want to admit it, but he realized he may have indeed gone too far. "It doesn't make any sense." he commented softly. "Why would she leave because I suspended her for some misconduct? Surely she knew we had rules here."

"Why?" Agent Topaz by this time had let her emotions go completely. "After all she went through, you dare to ask why? Are you blind? Wake up and smell the coffee, Commander. She left because you mistreated her!"

Before the G.U.N Commander could argue back, Topaz added, "And if that wasn't bad enough, you wouldn't even congratulate her for taking out Eggman in the middle of the ocean."

"Because she didn't!" Commander Tower argued with a shout. "I checked those coordinates she gave us, and there was nothing there. Agent Katswell clearly just went for another joyride to anger me."

"Even now, you still can't stop thinking the worst of her, can you?" Topaz inquired, still enraged. "I'm telling you, Commander, she left to stop him from escaping and attacking us another day."

"And you know this how?" Commander Tower countered. "Seriously, there is no evidence to suggest that's what she did, so why do you strongly suggest that's what happened out there?"

"Because I believe her, Commander!" Topaz replied sharply, saying his title name with disgust. "I know Agent Katswell. She is a very dedicated and genuine solider. Lying is not a trait she's ever been known for as long as I've worked with her. If anything, I'd say she is too honest."

"That doesn't mean I can excuse her behavior just like that." The G.U.N Commander argued again. "She went against my orders three times. Does that mean nothing to you?"

"No, it doesn't." Topaz replied. "And I'll tell you why. Because had she followed your orders, not only would you have lost the war, but you'd be responsible for the death of the President, as well as the lives of countless soldiers too."

Commander Tower was now in deep thought, as Topaz reiterated to drive her point further, "It's time you faced facts, sir. Her disobedience is the reason we defeated Eggman. She knew your plan wasn't working, so she went with one that would. For that, she not only deserves a hero's reward, but your full appreciation for risking so much to make you look good on TV."

By this time, Topaz's words had begun to put him to shame, as she soon added, "But instead, you treated her like trash, punishing her for no other reason to stroke your own ego! Congratulations, Commander, you just made one of the biggest mistakes of your career!"

"All right, that's enough." Commander Tower said, now frowning at her. "I get it, ok? She really got her feelings hurt because I may have been too harsh in dealing with her disobedience. That's still no reason to quit and leave."

"It is when you couldn't even say thank you for her efforts." Topaz shot back. "You obviously have no idea how hard it was for us to take Eggman down when we tried to invade his base. All you did was basically sit back and watch the fireworks from a distance."

Commander Tower was very tempted to yell at Agent Topaz again for her tongue lashing, but realized she had him dead to rights. He had indeed badly screwed up here.

Even so, his pride wouldn't let him apologize for it. Instead, he said to her, "Look, I would really appreciate it if you wouldn't tell anyone else about this, Agent Topaz. Those finding out would only hurt the morale of G.U.N, if you catch my drift."

Ironically, Topaz couldn't argue with this. She was very tempted to make an issue out of it, but decided the morale of G.U.N was too critical to put into jeopardy.

Nevertheless, she said, "The President though is going to ask you about her, as I heard him talking about wanting to give her and the Mobian creatures a hero's reward. When he finds out they're gone, and it was partly because to you, he is going to be very angry with you, Commander."

"You just let me deal with that." The G.U.N Commander told her. "This is my problem and I'll try to smooth it over anyway possible."

Topaz didn't think there was any chance of that. Seconds later though, Commander Tower added, "Anyway, try and see if you can bring her back here if possible, ok?"

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Topaz demanded. "She's on another planet now!"

"Yes, I'm aware of that." Commander Tower shot back. "I'm just saying, if possible, please do. I actually do admit she was one of our vital assets to our cause."

Topaz decided to leave the room now, as there really wasn't anymore to say that wasn't already said, replying as she walked towards the door, "You should have thought of that before you went on your little ego trip, Commander. Maybe this will make you think twice before you try to stoke it again."

Again, Commander Tower was tempted to yell at her for another cutting remark, but thought better of it. There was no one to blame but himself here.

Once Topaz had left the room, the G.U.N Commander thought to himself with a sigh, I cannot believe Agent Katswell was so sensitive about a little scolding. I thought she was tougher than that.

Nonetheless, whether he wanted to admit it not, Commander Tower knew he was going to have a lot of explaining to do if he could not bring her back. Even he began to realize she had played a bigger role in their victory than he previously thought possible.

Meanwhile, Topaz returned to the G.U.N hospital, and there she told Rouge the news about Kitty and the others.

To put it lightly, Rouge did indeed take it a lot harder than Topaz did. Even Topaz noticed it, as she saw the female bat turn towards her window and looked out of it with a tear in her eye, eventually saying with a lump of her throat, "I can't believe they left without me. I know we weren't exactly friends, but I thought at least… they would wait for my sake after I helped them escape Eggman's base."

Rouge soon wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand, adding with a sniffle, "But I guess I was wrong. They didn't care about me at all. Not even that stupid echidna bothered to stay…"

Topaz though tried to reason with Rouge, saying, "Rouge, please don't be bitter. I really don't think they left you behind intentionally."

"Then why did they take off just like that?" the female bat demanded, now raising her voice in anger. "Did they even care if I was alive or not?"

Topaz now put a hand from her non injured shoulder, replying, "Rouge, you need to keep in mind, you had been missing for over a week. I can't really say I blame them too much for thinking you were no longer among the living. Even I too began to think you had been killed from the Eggman assault."

"But still… could they not have waited until it was confirmed what had happened to me before departing?" Rouge countered. "Why were they so in a hurry to leave like that anyway?"

Deep down, not even Topaz knew for sure why they had taken off. It too was a mystery to her. Nevertheless, she said to try and console her, "There's nothing we can do about that now, Rouge. Dwelling on it will only make you sick inside from all the bitterness."

Rouge couldn't argue with this at all. Topaz then added, "We can though find out what happened to Eggman."

"Wait, you mean he's still alive?" Rouge inquired with arched eyebrows.

Topaz nodded her head in sadness, replying, "I believe he is unfortunately."

As the female bat pondered this deeply, Topaz said after a brief pause, "That's why I want to find out whether he is or not. Since Kitty wasn't able to find out, maybe we can do this for her in her stead, as well for the sake of the citizens of Central City."

Rouge though still felt a little upset inside at Kitty for leaving with them, saying, "I don't know… I'm not sure I could do it with a clear head, especially after you put it that way."

"C'mon, Rouge, don't be angry with Kitty." Topaz told her. "You know she didn't leave you behind intentionally either."

"But why did she leave at all?" Rouge inquired. "I mean, I thought she wanted to be a G.U.N agent here."

Topaz then realized she hadn't told the female bat about what happened between Kitty and the Commander. Nevertheless, she said in response, "Well, she did, that is until an altercation happened after the mission."

"Oh? Rouge asked with deep intrigue. "What happened exactly?"

Topaz however didn't want to talk about it at the moment, replying with hesitance, "Um, I'll tell you about it some other time. For now, I need to know you're with me on this plan of mine."

Rouge again was in deep thought, pondering this over. Topaz soon added, now placing her hand gently around the female bat's neck, "Please, Rouge… I can't do this without you. You're my good friend, and I'm going to need your special skills to help me out."

With Topaz putting it that way, not even someone as brash as Rouge could not help but feel somewhat honored by her request, replying with a slight smile, "Sure, Topaz. I'll help you out when you put that way."

Topaz quickly smiled at her, with Rouge adding, "Besides, I owe you a favor anyway for taking me back so easily."

"You don't owe me anything, Rouge." Topaz told her, still smiling at her. "Just having your loyal friendship is enough for me."

"In that case, consider it a bonus." The female bat retorted with a playful wink.

With the two of them now united in this mission, they would now try to uncover the mystery of Eggman's disappearance.

Was he still alive? That sadly would be a question that neither of them felt would be answered anytime soon.

Back on Mobius the following day, Sonic and Tails, along with Amy and Kitty, prepared for the big picnic date.

Amy, as expected, stayed up a bit late to prepare the meal, even giving it some special attention to make it extra special. She wanted to this day to absolutely perfect.

As for Kitty, she reluctantly decided to follow Amy's advice about wearing something different at the picnic, but didn't know what. When she brought this dilemma up to Vanilla and Cream, the mother rabbit quickly offered to help her out; in spite of the fact she and her daughter would be spending most of the day baking cookies.

"That's nice of you to be willing to go all of this trouble, "Kitty said in response with a hesitant smile, "But I think I'll just wear my usual attire at the picnic."

"Nonsense…" Vanilla replied firmly. "You deserve to have something nice to wear. Come with me."

And with that statement, the mother rabbit gently took the feline agent by the arm and led her towards Vanilla's closet, trying to pick something out from it.

Kitty though still very awkward inside, saying, "Look, it's no big deal. I'm just going to having a picnic with Tails. We're just friends."

"I know that, silly…" Vanilla replied with a warm chuckle. "But that jumpsuit of yours looks awfully hot to wear to a picnic, especially with weather going to be in the mid 90's today. Why not wear something a little lighter in texture and material?"

Kitty by this time couldn't help but groan in embarrassment. Cream soon came, saying with a slight tug of her arm while grabbing it, "You can trust my Mom, big sister. She only wants to make your time at the picnic nicer for you."

I'm afraid that just won't be possible today, knowing my luck… Kitty thought to herself with a sigh. Nevertheless she replied to Cream to be nice, "Well, if you say so…"

Just then, Vanilla pulled out an outfit from her closet, saying, "Ah ha, here we go…"

Kitty soon took a look at it as the mother rabbit showed it to her, commenting with arched eyebrows, "You're kidding me, right? That thing?"

"Why not, my dear?" Vanilla answered with a smile. "It's perfect for you. It's nice and formal, but is thin enough to keep you cool during the hot afternoon."

Kitty soon groaned again with humiliation, thinking, Ah, just perfect… once Tails sees me in that thing, I just know he's going to hit on me for sure. Oh, why did he have to fall in love with me?

Speaking of Tails, he and Sonic were also preparing for the big picnic date too.

With them now knowing Kitty would show up, Sonic said to Tails around 10am, who was currently still working on his new aircraft, "Well, I think it's about time we got ourselves ready for the picnic, which is in about three hours, wouldn't you agree?"

"What's the rush?" the two tailed fox replied, now tightening a bolt on one of the newly constructed wings. "We just have to show up and bring our appetites, right?"

"Well, yea…" Sonic stated softly. "Still, I do want to at least to show Amy I'm at least going to try and take this date seriously."

"Oh, really?" Tails then asked with a rib, "You starting to have feelings for her now?"

Sonic quickly put his hands at his waist, replying, "Now you know better than that. I'm just doing the right thing so Amy won't accuse me of not giving her a date to remember."

"Well, unless you tell her you love her and seal it with a kiss, I'm pretty sure she's going to accuse you of that anyway…" Tails replied with a slight chortle.

Sonic now let out a frustrating groan. He knew the two tailed fox was right about that.

Nevertheless, he wouldn't let that possibility get to him, saying in response, "Even so, I'm going to try and enjoy it somewhat. If nothing else, at least I'll get some good eats to dive into."

Tails then asked after a long pause, "So, um, is there any chance you might say you love Amy before the picnic is over?"

"That's really none of your business, T2." Sonic replied with a frown. "I don't mean to sound rude here, but this is something I'll decide on my own, if and when I'm ready that is…"

"Well, you're always prying into my personal love life," Tails countered. "So why can't I pry into yours also?"

"That's because I'm looking out for you, lil bro." Sonic explained. "You're really playing with fire here."

"Sonic, how many times do I have to say it?" Tails demanded with a frown. "I'm not going to do anything inappropriate. As I told Amy, I'm going to be a perfect gentleman around Kitty."

"Even if that is true, you're still going to make Kitty feel very awkward inside by trying to profess your feelings for her." Sonic shot back.

"No, I won't." Tails countered. "I'll be very formal and considerate when bringing it up. You'll see…"

By this time, Sonic finally gave up trying to reason with him again. He knew Tails was going down this path, and nothing the blue hedgehog said was going to stop him.

"Anyway…" Sonic said after another long pause, "I'm going to get myself ready now." He then turned to leave, adding, "See you later, Tails."

"See ya, Sonic." Tails replied, waving at him while now working on the underneath part of a wing.

"Remember, Tails…" Sonic told him firmly, while holding the door of his workshop open, "Be at the meadows by 1pm."

"Relax; I'll be there. The two tailed fox responded quickly. "I wouldn't miss this for anything."

Sonic then closed the door behind him and left, now blasting off.

Tails meanwhile continued to work on his jet for another hour, making countless adjustments to the aircraft still in production, trying to get another part of it done before getting ready himself.

However, since it took a lot longer than he thought it would, it was soon 11:30 before he knew it, and Tails sadly only finished the wing he had been currently working on.

He then looked at the clock, saying with a bit of fatigue on his face, soon wiping the sweat from his brow, "Man, this is taking forever to finish. It's going to be at least another couple of days before I'll be even able to take it for a spin."

Realizing he couldn't do anymore work that he could finish on time, Tails decided to call it for the day, where he soon prepared for the picnic himself.

He then walked over to the nearest pond with a towel and sponge in hand, deciding now to take a thorough bath. Normally, he didn't care to do this very much since he was a fox, but since Tails wanted to make the best impression possible, he went the extra mile this time, washing his fur and face with a lot of effort to look clean and sharp.

Since he had indeed taken his time cleansing himself, Tails soon discovered it was now noon by the time he had returned to his workshop.

"Wow, time sure flies around here…" Tails commented to himself a bit awed by the suddenness of the change.

Even so, he was determined to arrive at the picnic on time.

Wanting to see how he now looked, the two tailed fox thoroughly glanced at his appearance in a mirror in the corner.

He soon grinned at his freshly washed fur, thinking slyfully while grooming his facial fur to a perfect finish, "looking good, Tails. Won't Kitty be impressed to see how nice you look now?

Just then, he thought, it just occurred to me… will Kitty wear something special at the picnic too?

However, deep down, he knew the odds of that happening were very slim. Since Tails understood Kitty wouldn't dress up for him, he soon blew it off, adding, Nah, she probably will wear the same jumpsuit there.

He then shrugged his shoulder, commenting softly, "No matter. She still looks beautiful even in that combat attire of hers."

Moments later, Tails looked at the clock again. It was now 12:05.

Realizing there was some time to kill, the two tailed fox thought to himself, well, since I am a bit tired from all that construction work on the Hyper Tornado, I guess I'll take a little snooze on the workbench while I'm waiting.

And with that statement, he did just that.

He soon set his alarm for 12:55 and laid down on the flat part of the worktable he used while tinkering with metal parts, pushing aside any tools nearby to keep from accidentally injuring himself on them.

Yep, he thought to himself, soon placing his hands behind his head, this is going to be one way past cool picnic. I just know it will be.

Within minutes, he began to drift asleep, dreaming about the wonderful time he would soon have.

Before he knew it, the alarm clock nearby in his workshop soon blared loudly.

Tails then slowly sat up with a yawn and walked over to turn it off. Once that was done, he stretched the muscles of his arms and legs thoroughly for about fifteen seconds, stating afterwards, "Well, time to get going. I wouldn't want to keep Kitty and the others waiting."

Tails soon did one last inspection in the mirror to make sure his fur was perfectly groomed. Once that was confirmed, he soon began to make his towards for the door, saying, "Ok, let's do this…"

However, as he did so, the two tailed fox heard a voice, a voice he was surprised to hear near his workshop.

It soon called out to him in a passionate tone of voice, saying, "Oh, Tails… where are you?"

Huh? Is that… nah it can't be. Tails thought to himself. There's no way she'd come by here.

"Who's there?" Tails asked puzzled.

The voice soon chuckled at him from behind the door, replying, "You know who it is, silly. Come on out."

"Kitty? Is that… you?" the two tailed fox inquired, still not fully convinced.

"Of course, who else would it be, Tails sweetie?" it answered again

"Tails sweetie?" Tails was now fully dumbfounded, telling himself, "There's no way this can be real. It's gotta be a dream."

"I even picked out a special outfit to wear for you to see." Kitty told him flirtatiously.

"Seriously?" Tails asked. "Well, ok, I'll be right out then."

Tails then opened the door, and there he saw a sight that completely blew him away. It was something so beautiful, it left him completely speechless. Even his jaw dropped somewhat as well.

"Kitty? Is that really you?" Tails asked, now in awe while gazing at her.

What Tails saw was Kitty sitting on her knees near a flower bed of white lilies. However, what took his sight away even more was what he said the feline agent wearing, none other than a long white satin dress that sparkled beautifully in the sunlight. She even had a lily perched in the right side of her shining black hair.

Kitty then looked at him while blowing on a dandelion that was in her hand, commenting with a sly grin on her face, "You know, it's not polite to keep a girl waiting who came all this way to see you."

Tails however was still too blown away inside, replying with a stutter, "Oh, uh… I'm sorry about that." He then stated the obvious to her, saying, "Kitty… you… uh, you look so beautiful now."

Kitty then stood up, saying with the same warm smile as the bottom part of dress swayed from each knee, "Why thank you, Tails. I wanted to look my absolute best for someone as handsome and wonderful as you are."

Within moments, the two tailed fox soon noticed something else about her as she stood up. She was barefoot. That though was hardly a turn off. If anything, it made his heart beat even faster at the sight of her.

My goodness… Tails thought, now sweating profusely. She is just gorgeous. I… can't believe what I'm seeing here. Somebody pinch me. I must be dreaming.

However, it wasn't. Kitty soon walked over to him, asking with another flirtatious smile while grabbing both of his hands with hers, "So, shall we enjoy go our picnic, my little fox hunk?"

Tails didn't have to be asked twice, as he quickly nodded his head with a nod, saying, "Sure, Kitty. Lead the way."

At that moment, the two tailed fox felt like putty in her hands as they walked together, both inside and out. He was just so overwhelmed by everything that was going on now.

Wow, if she did all of this for me for just one picnic, Tails thought with a big smile, then I'm sure I'll be able to talk her into someday becoming a couple no sweat.

Within fifteen minutes, the two of them arrived in a meadow, where the two tailed fox spread out a picnic mat for Kitty and him to sit on. Once that was done, he put down the picnic basket Amy had made on top of it, where they soon sat down on as well and began to eat.

Amy had made for them within the picnic basket about seven ham and cheese sandwiches, a moderate sized clear plastic bowl of potato salad and a fruit salad in a larger glass bowl for dessert. All of it looked delicious to the two tailed fox.

However, due to being too overwhelmed by Kitty's beauty, Tails didn't have much of an appetite. Even when he was munching on a sandwich, he couldn't help but stare at her occasionally. Just looking at the feline agent took his breath away.

Kitty on the other hand just ate the sandwiches slowly, but carefully enough she didn't spill any mayonnaise or mustard on her dress.

What made it even odder about Tails staring at her is that he soon noticed Kitty didn't seem to mind. If anything, she seemed to smile at his frequent glances and wink at him.

Wow, she sure is taking my attention to her pretty well… Tails thought to himself. I thought at the very least she would have some hesitation or concern.

Five minutes later, the two of them decided to sample Amy's potato salad. As expected, it too was delicious.

However, like before, Tails was again too distracted to eat much of it. Even Kitty ate the same way as before too, again not letting a single smudge of the messy potato salad get on her dress.

Her eating pattern almost seemed robotic somewhat according to the two tailed fox, puzzling him a bit.

Nevertheless, he wouldn't get to ponder this for too long, as Kitty soon suggested a bit flirtatiously after finishing her helping of potato salad, "So, shall we try the fruit salad now, Tails?"

"Sure." He replied, nodding his head at her with a smile.

Tails this time even decided to be chivalrous, as he scooped out some for the feline agent on another paper plate with a large plastic spoon, slowing handing it to her.

"Thank you, sweetie." She said in response.

Tails' heart instantly began to beat faster. He loved Kitty calling him that.

He then thought to himself, well, since she's been so nice and considerate, I need to do something to impress her.

Tails soon glanced at the fruit salad to his right and decided to use it for a special trick. He quickly scooped a handful with his gloves and began to juggle it, saying, "Watch this, Kitty."

Kitty did indeed watch, as he soon tossed it in the air after juggling it for about ten seconds, where he then moved his mouth near the food as it fell towards the floor, catching it perfectly inside, quickly gulping it down soon after.

Kitty immediately clapped at his performance with a giggle, saying, "Nice one, Tails… Do another trick for me."

Wanting to hit a homerun here to really impress her, Tails this time grabbed the big spoon with the potato salad and tossed the contents high in the air, trying to get all of it in his mouth. This time though, his accuracy was off, as part of the potato salad splattered onto his around the sides of his face, from his chin, nose, even both cheeks.

Tails instantly recoiled, staggering back a bit, as he was not expecting that to happen.

Within moments, the two tailed fox felt huge embarrassment for his blunder while trying to wipe the potato salad off of his face with his gloves, expecting Kitty to laugh at his folly.

Bizarrely, Kitty did indeed laugh, but it was more of a laugh of his adorableness than at his mistake.

Tails then said with a mumble, still heavily blushing, "Sorry bout that, Kitty. That was really stupid on my part."

"It's ok." She replied, still giggling at him. "Here, let me help you."

The feline agent then reached for a napkin inside the picnic basket and used it to wipe the remaining potato salad off of his face. Tails during this time felt humiliated as she did so, though a bit happy at the same time. He enjoyed her touch on his face very much.

Once she was finished, Tails said to her, still having flushed cheeks, "Thanks."

"Anytime." Kitty replied, still smiling at him. "I enjoy taking care of my little fox hunk."

Tails by this time was in a daze. Hearing her say that just made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

He was in such a daze, Tails didn't even notice when she finished her fruit salad, where she then stood up and reached out her right hand to him, saying, "Tails?"

Tails instantly snapped to attention, replying while clearing his head with a shake, "Yes?"

"You mind if we go for a stroll together through the meadow?"

Seeing the flirtatious look on her face again, the two tailed fox didn't have to be asked twice, as he answered with another love dazed expression while standing up, "I'd love to. Let's go."

Tails quickly grabbed onto Kitty's right hand, and the two of them began to slowly run off, hand in hand the whole way there.

Tails again couldn't help but be overwhelmed by all of this taking place, thinking to himself as they ran; this is such a perfect day. I can't believe how well it's going. This is almost like a dream come true.

For the next three minutes, the two of them continued to run together with a spring in their step, with each of them laughing and smiling at each other as they ran, enjoying the ride.

Finally, they came upon a large flowerbed of white lilies in the distance, and there they decided to stop running and have some fun together.

Kitty then grabbed Tails by both hands and soon swung him around playfully once they arrived in the lily field, looking at him with a big smile on her face the whole time.

Even Tails couldn't help but love this as well, even if he was getting spun around alot and starting to get dizzy inside too.

This went on for about fifteen seconds, where the feline soon gently lowered him onto the ground, where the two of them soon landed on their backs a couple of feet apart, now surrounded with white lilies all around them.

Again, they laughed and giggled at the fun they just had as they laid on top of the lilies, even to the point of having to catch their breaths.

Once they did, Tails soon turned on his right side to glance at Kitty, who soon did the same with him while leaning on her left side.

Tails then stated with elation, smiling warmly at her, "I can't remember the last time I ever had this much fun in all my life. Thank you so much for the best day ever, Kitty."

Kitty quickly smiled back at him, replying, "You're very welcome, Tailsly wailsy. This day was one of the best I ever had too."

Deciding to seize the moment, the two tailed fox soon said with a clearing of his throat, "Um, Kitty?"

"Yes, my little fox hunk?"

Tails again hesitated to speak, as he couldn't help but love that name of hers, answering, "Well, I don't know if I ever told you, but I just wanted to say… that I really think you're one special individual."

"Oh, you do, huh?" Kitty retorted playfully.

"Yea…" Tails answered. He then cleared his throat again, saying while trying not to blush, "In fact, I wanted to tell you that I… really like you a lot, Kitty."

"How much do you exactly?" she inquired, still using that playful tone of voice with him.

"Actually, I would say a lot." Tails explained, trying to keep himself from showing full blown flushed cheeks. He then added, now no longer able to hold back his feelings, "Even to the point I would admit that I… love… you."

The two tailed fox said those last three words with absolute embarrassment, as he didn't know how Kitty would respond.

Surprisingly, she didn't seem to care, replying with a warm expression on her face "Aw, how sweet of you to say that to me."

"Really? You mean you don't mind that I just confessed to you?" Tails asked, still a bit dumbfounded by her lack of awkwardness.

"Not at all…" Kitty told him, still looking at him flirtatiously. "I actually find it touching to be perfectly honest."

Wow, she's sure taking my crush of her in spite of our age difference pretty well. Tails thought. Well, I might as well keep going then with the way things are going.

Tails finally brought up the big question after a brief pause, saying, "Anyway, there's something I've been to ask of you."

"Yes, Tails sweetie?"

Again, the two tailed fox hesitated to speak, but forced himself to, eventually asking her, "Well, um… I was just wondering… would you… be ok with a closer relationship with me? You know, when the time is right of course…"

"You mean when you're of age?" Kitty inquired.

"Yea, exactly." Tails explained. He then said, trying to keep his now rapid beating heart in check, "So, um… would you like that?"

Kitty didn't even hesitate to think about it. She quickly replied by moving over and placing a hand on his right shoulder, replying, "I'd love to."

"You… really mean that?" Tails asked, now more overwhelmed than ever inside.

"Absolutely." The feline agent answered with deep passion in her voice.

He again asked her to be sure, "You'd actually be willing to wait over ten years for me to grow up before starting a relationship?"

"Yes." She told him, looking at him flirtatiously again, rubbing the sides of his right ear playfully, "I'd be willing to wait twenty years if it meant having you by my side, you adorable, handsome hunk of fox."

By this point, Tails almost felt like literally melting into a puddle of goop after hearing those words come from her lips. He felt like was in absolute paradise.

Kitty then made him want to melt even more, as she then kissed him on the right cheek with deep love to seal their romance in waiting.

Oh, I don't know how much more of this I can take. Tails thought, now in a complete love trance. Can it get any better?

Indeed it would. Within seconds, Kitty sat up and then hugged him tightly, snuggling him securely with her arms. Tails during this time sighed happily, especially with his face now pressed against her chest in a loving manner.

He was never more euphoric than he was right now.

Ten seconds later, she finally let go and now put both of her hands on his shoulders, looking gun intently in the eye.

With his face now only inches away from hers, he soon heard her say with deep passion in her voice, "Tails…"

"Yes, Kitty, my love?"

Again, she said his name, to which he replied in the same manner.

When she did it a third time, Tails now looked on a bit dumbfounded, asking, "Um, is there a reason why you keep saying my name over and over?"

It soon happened a fourth time, now starting to annoy the two tailed a bit.

"Kitty, just say what's on your mind." Tails told her. "I can handle it."

However, the next time he heard her voice; there was no more passion or love in it at all. Instead, it was one that was abrupt, even to the point of being jarring.

Before Tails could even make sense what was going on, he soon felt a literal jarring from his right shoulder, as he heard another voice out of nowhere, say, "Tails, wake up!"

Within moments, the two tailed fox was now jolted back to reality, as he soon stood up, saying deeply startled, "Huh? What am I doing back here?"

His eyes soon cleared up, and there he saw Sonic in front of him, saying with a frown, "C'mon, lil bro, let's get going!"

Tails by this time realized he had been dreaming. The whole picnic with Kitty from before was nothing more than an illusion of his mind.

The two tailed fox soon replied with a yawn and stretch of his arms and legs, "Relax, Sonic. We got plenty of time. No need to rush."

"Are you nuts?" Sonic interrogated, placing his hands at his waist, "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Well, it can't be 12:55." Tails explained. "I set my alarm to go off by then."

"It's past that." The blue hedgehog told him.

"What? What do you mean?" Tails inquired, now a bit alarmed inside. "You mean it's already past 1pm?"

"More like past 1:30pm." Sonic replied bluntly.

Instantly, Tails body heat went cold, saying, "You can't be serious! There's no way that could have happened."

Unfortunately for him, he soon realized it was true. Tails quickly glanced down at his alarm clock on the floor, which had sadly not gone off due to being knocked off and hitting the ground with a thud. However, what made it even more alarming was the time it showed. It was now 1:40.

"Oh my goodness!" he exclaimed. "You mean I actually overslept by a good forty five minutes?"

"I'm afraid so." Sonic explained. "That's why I came to…"

Tails though cut him, as he was now in a panic, saying deeply alarmed while running around, "Oh no! I can't believe this happened to me! Kitty's going to think I stood her up!"

"Relax, T2." Sonic told him. "I doubt she'll be that…"

Tails again interrupted him, saying while trying to groom his fur around his face in the mirror, "I gotta get myself ready on the double. I can't let this opportunity slip through my fingers!"

"Would you calm down already?" Sonic demanded with a frown. "You're making too big of a deal out of this."

Tails though was still preoccupied to answer back, as he was using a comb again and again on his face to get his fur to the perfect stroke to look his best.

Sonic finally stepped towards him, adding while grabbing him by the right arm, "Look, if anyone should be nervous about this picnic, it's should be me. I'm the one who has to make a good effort for Amy's sake so she doesn't feel cheated on our date. You and Kitty are just going together as friends."

Tails by this point finally settled down somewhat, saying nervously while glancing at the floor a bit embarrassed, "Yea, you're right… Sorry bout that."

"It's cool." Sonic replied firmly. "But we need to get moving, pronto."

Tails quickly nodded his head, saying, "Ok, let's go."

With no time to spare, Sonic decided to take the two tailed fox by the hand to get there as fast as possible while he blasted off towards the meadows. Since the blue hedgehog could run really fast, he had been able to arrive at the picnic spot in under a minute.

The second he arrived, Sonic let go of his hand, telling Amy who was standing nearby, "I found him. He was asleep in his workshop."

To put it lightly, Amy was not pleased with the two tailed fox at all. Tails though tried to make up for his tardiness, explaining while a bit flustered while she glared at him, "I'm really sorry, Amy. My alarm clock malfunctioned while I took a quick snooze."

Amy though just let out a huff, replying a bit angry, "You shouldn't have been taking a nap this close to the picnic anyway. You're going to ruin this day for me and I don't appreciate that one bit."

"Amy, be nice…" Sonic told her.

Wanting to make him happy, she soon softened up a bit, adding while handing him his picnic basket with a heavy sigh, "Anyway, here's your food, Tails. Kitty is waiting for you over by that tree over there."

Amy had been pointing to the east when mentioning Kitty's location.

The second he heard her name, Tails again panicked inside, replying, "Oh, man… I bet Kitty's really mad at me now. I left her hanging."

"Would you relax already?" Sonic told him. "She wasn't the least bit offended when she found out about you being late."

"She's just being nice." Tails replied. "Anyway, I better be going." He then added while preparing to run off, "See you guys later."

The second he began to head towards Kitty, Amy said to him, "Have fun, you two. She soon added a split second later, "And please don't come over to our tree unless it's absolutely important, ok?"

"Amy…"

Sighing heavily again, she added with reluctance, "Ok, you can come by if you need anything."

Deep down, Amy didn't want to say that, but did so to please her true blue. However, by this time, Tails didn't even hear her words. He was too preoccupied with getting over to Kitty to even notice them.

Amy meanwhile took Sonic gently by the hand, saying with a flirtatious smile on her face, "So, shall we head to our spot, sweetie?"

"Yea, I guess so…" Sonic replied with a sigh.

As they walked towards their spot, the blue hedgehog added, "And please don't call me sweetie, not yet at least."

Amy though gigged with her free hand in front of her face, telling, "Oh, I'm sure I'll get you to like that name soon enough."

I doubt it… Sonic thought to himself.

Tails during this time finally made it to the tree where Kitty was laying in the shade under a tree on a picnic mat, saying out of breath, "I'm here, Kitty. Please forgive me for being late. I don't how it happened, but my alarm clock let me down. I'm really sorry about…"

Kitty however interrupted him, replying with arched eyebrows, "Tails, it's fine. I'm not upset about it at all."

"You're not? Really?" Even now, Tails was having a hard time believing this.

"Yes." Kitty told him, "I understand things happen, so you can relax now and quit getting so worked up over it."

Since she had been very upfront about it, the two tailed fox did just that, saying as he laid the picnic basket on the mat, saying with a nervous chuckle, "Oh, good." He then commented, "You know, I wouldn't have blamed you if you chose to eat without me. I know I screwed up."

"Like I told you, I'm ok with it." Kitty explained. "Plus, I thought it would only be fair to wait until it was confirmed you weren't coming."

"Oh, uh… thanks. I appreciate that." Tails said with another nervous chuckle.

Deep down though, Kitty was hoping he would miss the picnic entirely so she could leave soon after and miss the whole awkward scene she knew would be coming later on.

Just then, the two tailed noticed Kitty's change in attire, commenting nervously, "So, I see you're actually wearing something different now."

"Err… yes." Kitty replied, trying not to draw any attention to it. "Vanilla talked me into wearing something lighter since it was going to be hot out today."

As it turned out, the outfit Vanilla had picked out Kitty to wear was none other than a white blouse with a navy blue skirt that went about eighteen inches below her knees. She was even wearing a pair of black sandals instead of shoes due to the hot afternoon sun.

Not surprisingly, Tails soon said, trying to be suave, but a bit subtle too, "Well, um, I really like it, Kitty. You uhh… look cute in that outfit."

Kitty instantly blushed in both cheeks at his words, replying with a lot of awkwardness in her voice, "Oh, umm… thanks for the compliment. That's… nice of you to say."

Again however, Kitty felt a bit creeped out inside, thinking, Ah great, he's already saying I look cute. This is only the beginning, I just know it…

Tails then sat down on the mat and said with another nervous chuckle, "So… shall we eat?"

"Oh, yea… sure." Kitty replied, still expressing the same awkwardness in her from before. "Let's do that."

Within moments, the two tailed fox passed out the food. Ironically though, one of the things to eat was similar to his dream. Instead of ham and cheese sandwiches, it was turkey and Swiss ones.

As they began to dive into them, Tails thought to himself a bit disappointed, I should have known Kitty wouldn't have come wearing a dress to a picnic. That just isn't in her character to do something like that.

He then added while stealing a few glances at her as she ate as well, still, she really looks beautiful even in that blouse and skirt. I guess I can't complain too much.

Kitty though soon noticed the glances herself, asking a bit annoyed, "Um, is there a reason you're staring at me now?"

Tails instantly cringed, replying with a heavy stutter, "Oh, um. I'm-I'm sorry, Kitty. I-I didn't mean to offend you. I-I-I just find your outfit very nice looking is all."

Kitty not surprisingly was offended somewhat, but downplayed it for his sake, saying, "Listen, I hope you won't take this the wrong way, but could you not stare at me for the rest of the picnic? It's really awkward and a bit on the creepy side too."

Tails again went into a hyperventilating stutter, answering, "O-oh, y-yea. Sure, Kitty. I-I-I apologize full heartedly. My bad."

"It's ok, Tails." Kitty replied, downplaying it again. "I'm not upset with you at all. You don't need to act so nervous around me. Just be yourself."

That however was easier said than done. Both Kitty and Tails deep down knew this.

Like the dream, the two of them ate their sandwiches, with Tails being too nervous to eat a lot and Kitty eating hers slowly. Unlike the dream though, some mayonnaise did spill from the sandwich, landing on the edges of the skirt around her knees.

Both Tails and Kitty instantly responded to this, with the two tailed fox quickly handing her a napkin to wipe it off, trying to be chivalrous, as well as courteous.

Kitty during this time was about to get one herself after letting out a slightly annoyed moan, but with Tails getting one already, she took it from his hand, saying to him to be nice, "Uh, thanks, Tails…"

"No problem." He replied with a smile. "Happy to help."

Not surprisingly, seeing that smile made her awkwardness levels rise again within her body as she wiped the small spot of mayonnaise off of her skirt. She knew he was trying to somewhat impress her, even if it was an act of kindness.

I gotta be more careful here to keep Tails from wanting to bend over backwards for me. Kitty thought to herself. It's really starting to get on my nerves.

Thankfully, Kitty didn't spill anymore mayonnaise, or even mustard for that matter on her clothes with the rest of the turkey sandwiches she ate, now munching on them even more carefully than before. So much in fact, Tails also noticed it.

Ironically though, he interpreted it differently, thinking, she must really be wanting to keep her clothes clean in order to look neat and orderly. He then added after a brief pause, Well, I like that about her.

A couple of minutes later, they soon dived into the next entrée, which ironically, was also potato salad, though this time in a glass bowl instead of a plastic one.

Tails again decided to be chivalrous, as he carefully scooped out some for Kitty with a big spoon and handed it to her on a paper plate.

"Here you go, Kitty." He said with a warm smile while handing to her. "Enjoy."

"Um, thanks…" she replied with a mumble, looking at him with more awkwardness on her face.

Deep down, Kitty was very tempted to tell him she didn't want him to do anymore special things for her, but decided not to, fearing he would take it wrong.

As for Tails, he soon poured some on another plate for himself to eat, where they both grabbed a plastic fork and began to dive in.

After a couple of bites, the two tailed fox stated to her, trying to strike up some conversation, "So, Amy's a really good cook, wouldn't you say, Kitty?"

"Uh, yes, she is…' the feline agent answered softly. "This picnic, if nothing else, was worth coming to have some of this delicious food, especially the potato salad."

Tails not surprisingly was a bit offended by that statement of Kitty's, but decided to let it go, realizing he was kind of pushing things. Instead, he decided to try something else to impress her, asking, "So, um, would you like to see me do a special trick?"

"What kind of special trick?" she inquired, looking at him intently.

"Well, um…" he explained very awkwardly. "I can catch a large scoop of potato salad with my mouth while in midair. Wouldn't that be cool to watch?"

"Actually, no it wouldn't." Kitty replied firmly with arched eyebrows. "If anything, I would find that gross and juvenile behavior."

Tails face and ears instantly drooped in sadness and disappointment once those words fell from her lips, saying deeply embarrassed and humiliated, "Oh, I see…" He then added a bit hurt inside, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have even asked. I don't know what I was even thinking there."

Sensing the hurt in his eyes, Kitty said to him with sympathy in her eyes, "I didn't mean to make you feel bad, Tails. I was just telling you my honest opinion about it. That kind of behavior has never been appealing to me, even when growing up. It's nothing against you."

"It's fine." Tails replied with a whimper, looking away ashamed. "It's my fault for even bringing it up. I guess I'm just acting like a big goofball now."

By this point, Kitty felt a bit sympathetic inside and decided to soothe his wounded feelings, doing something she really didn't want to do for the sake of him taking it wrong, but knew it was necessary this time.

She soon moved slowly over to him and put her hand on his right shoulder, saying with a comforting tone in her voice as she did so, "C'mon, Tails. Please don't act that way now. Just because I don't like that stuff doesn't mean I like you any less. I still like you alot as my friend."

"You sure about that?" Tails asked, looking at her with suspicion.

The feline agent quickly nodded her head, as she then put a hand on his shoulder, "Yes. Just be yourself. That's all I'm asking you to do."

Wanting to please her, Tails slowly turned to look at Kitty, replying with a slight smile, "Ok, I'll do that then."

"Thanks."

Kitty quickly moved back to her original spot after saying that, as the two of them continued to eat their remaining potato salad.

As they ate, the two tailed fox soon thought to himself while taking another bite of his food, Kitty's right. I have to knock off the nonsense and just be a gentleman. After all, I told Amy I would be anyway, so why am I not?

From that point on, Tails did just that. He acted with class and maturity, even asking Kitty for anything she needed. Not surprisingly, she told him it was ok and he didn't have to do anything more for her.

Even so, Kitty reluctantly gave in when he insisted on it if necessary, deciding to not hurt his feelings again. That however, would end up being a lot harder to allow than previously thought, as she really was getting very irritated by his constant treatment of wanting to wait on her hand and foot.

Thankfully though, about five minutes later, the two of them were now full from eating several helpings of sandwiches and potato salad, with Kitty now deciding to lie down on the picnic mat on her back and relax.

Tails meanwhile looked in the basket to see what Amy had made for dessert. Again, it was something different, as it was a standard sized apple pie with a foil tin around it.

"Wow, Amy sure went to a lot of trouble here." He commented. "She even made a big pie for each of us to share."

Kitty though groaned from a full stomach, replying, "Uh, no thanks… I couldn't eat another bite. I'm so full now; I think I'd throw up if I dared to look at it."

Since Tails too was a bit on the full side, he decided to lie down on his back too and look at the sky for now instead.

However, he wouldn't be able to look at it for long, as Kitty soon thought to herself inadvertently, you know, since it's such a nice and warm day, I'll think I'll feel the grass between my toes.

Within seconds, Tails quickly tilted her head up from the movement of her knees and saw Kitty take off her sandals with a soft yank with each foot, now laying her perfectly pedicured paws onto the ground, where she did indeed feel the grass between each toe, sighing happily as she did so.

Tails' heart instantly beat faster inside while she did this, even slightly arousing him, thinking a bit overwhelmed inside while glancing at them, my goodness… She's as beautifully looking barefoot as she was in my dream. Kitty truly is a gorgeous individual.

Kitty though soon noticed him looking at her intently, making her feel awkward all over again. She then asked with arched eyebrows while tilting her head towards the two tailed fox, "Um, didn't I request for you not to stare at me, Tails? It's really inappropriate."

Again, Tails blushed heavily, stammering, "Oh, uh… s-sorry bout that, Kitty. I-I couldn't help myself there."

Kitty then quickly realized why he was, thinking with a frustrated groan, Oh great… I should have known he would even find my feet attractive looking. He thinks everything about me is attractive!

However, since the grass felt so nice between each toe of her paw feet, Kitty decided to not put back on her sandals to discourage him, but said instead diplomatically, "I would really appreciate if you would just look at the sky now, or anything else for that matter. Can you please do that for me?"

"Oh, uh, yea, s-sure thing…" Tails replied with a nod.

Again, wanting to please her, he did just that, as he soon glanced at the sky like the tan feline was. Nevertheless, he couldn't help but sneak a look or two on the sly with his eyes every now and then, especially since Kitty was indeed so beautiful looking to him.

For the next minute, neither of them said anything, as they both enjoy the warm breeze and the small of rays that shot through the tree on their bodies. Tails even glanced at over Sonic to see how his date was going from the tree on the west side.

Not surprisingly, Amy was enjoying it more than he was. While Sonic seemed to be having fun too, Tails couldn't help but wonder if he was putting on act for her sake.

A minute later, Tails finally broke the ice again, asking while still lying on his back, "So, how you enjoying life on Mobius?"

Kitty quickly turned her head to him, replying softly, "Well, it's actually very nice here to be perfectly honest. It's been peaceful, serene and even a bit therapeutic too.

"See, aren't you glad I asked you to come along now?" Tails inquired with a sly smirk. "Look at all what would you would have missed out on had you stayed behind."

"Well, I guess you do have a point there…" Kitty commented with a heavy sigh, looking at the sky again.

Tails though could tell there was some restlessness in her body language as she spoke, inquiring further, "You feeling ok, Kitty?"

She again turned to look at him, replying, "Yea, I'm fine. Why?"

"Well, I couldn't help but notice you kind of look a bit down." He explained. "You sure there's nothing troubling you?"

Not wanting to make an issue of it, the feline agent replied firmly, "Trust me. I'm fine, Tails. I'm very happy living here. I have no regrets coming with you and the others to this place."

While that answer somewhat satisfied him, the two tailed fox still felt she wasn't being perfectly honest here. Nevertheless, he decided to drop the matter since it was none of his business anyway.

Kitty though spoke up ten seconds later, asking him out of the blue, "Tell me, Tails. Do you think Rouge is still alive or was she killed during the mission with Eggman?"

Tails now sat up, inquiring peculiarly, "Um, why made you ask that?"

"Well, I still wonder every now what ever happened to that bat." Kitty explained, looking at the sky as she spoke. "I wish I could've had some closure on that matter, especially with her helping out us out and all…"

"That reminds me…" Tails said. "I noticed after the mission, your attitude of Rouge seemed to change. Before, I could tell you really seemed angry and upset with her." He then asked with curiosity, "What happened in that base by the way?"

Even now, the tan feline felt ashamed inside while recollecting that memory, even to the point of feeling responsible for Rouge's disappearance.

Tails soon said after a long silence, "Kitty…?"

"Huh?" Kitty during this time was in deep thought, soon replying while glancing at him, "Oh, um… well, I rather not go into too much detail about it since it's not a pleasant memory."

"How so?" He inquired with deep curiosity.

"Well, let's just say… I made a really bad decision in there that I deeply regret now." She told him guilt ridden. "Even if it did lead to something good, I felt it did more harm in the long run."

"I see…" Not surprisingly, Tails was very tempted to ask her more about it, but felt it was best to let it go. He could tell something was eating at Kitty about it that she didn't want to talk about at all.

However, he did bring up another topic, one that he knew would be even more awkward to talk about, but felt he had to get off his chest.

"Um, Kitty…?"

"Yes, Tails?" she replied, looking at him intently again.

"Well, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about…" he explained.

"Like what?" the tan feline inquired, now sitting up. Not surprisingly, Kitty had a strong inkling what it was about.

"Well, I know this is probably not the best of times to bring this up," Tails explained, "but I need to discuss this with you for my own peace of mind."

Within seconds, her fears would be confirmed, as he added, "Basically, it's about my personal feelings concerning you."

Oh no… Kitty moaned in her mind, gritting her teeth in full blown awkwardness. I knew this was going to happen! Oh, why did he have to bring this up now? I don't want to hurt him.

Tails thankfully didn't see her facial expressions, as he said while looking at the ground, "Anyway, you probably already have figured this out by now, but I've grown very fond of you over time."

Oh, you think? She thought sarcastically, but commented softly, "Yea, I've figured that out by now. Why?"

Tails by this time looked at her, saying further, trying to not blush, "Well, the truth is, I actually have developed a crush on you too."

"Really? Kitty soon looked at him, trying to keep her composure, "So, what are you trying to say to me exactly?'

By this time, the two tailed fox decided to quit beating around the bush and just say what was really on his heart, no matter how awkward it would sound, telling her while looking at the ground, "Kitty, what I'm really trying to say is… well, I… love…you…"

Like his dream, Tails' cheeks again were flown blown. However, unlike his dream, Kitty groaned in absolute embarrassment, thinking to herself with deep disgust while placing her hands over her face, I knew he would say it eventually. I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!

Thankfully again, the two tailed fox didn't not see this either, as he soon looked at her again after she was done, adding, still feeling embarrassed "I… hope I didn't creep you out at all by me telling you this, but I felt you needed to know. I mean, I just can't hide my feelings from you anymore. I really am in love with you, Kitty."

The picnic is officially ruined… Kitty thought to herself with a look of agony on her face. Now comes the part where I'll have to turn him down and he'll want to cry in heartbreak.

Tails this time did see her painful expression, asking with awkwardness, "Um, did I come on too strongly there?"

Yes! Yes you did! Kitty thought to herself angrily. But again, she replied, for the sake of his feelings, "Well, to be perfectly honest, you did a bit. I mean, it's not exactly normal for someone my age to be ok with, considering our age difference and all…"

Tails ironically didn't blame her, saying, "I suppose you do have a point there…" Nevertheless, he pressed on, saying, "Anyway, I hope you don't mind me telling you this, but I hope we can have a deeper friendship over time."

"Come again?" Kitty knew what was coming, but wanted him to clarify it for her in case she might be jumping the gun.

"You know, that we'll become even better friends, then eventually one day decide to try and see if we're right for each other and…"

Kitty finally couldn't keep her peace any longer, as she now interrupted him, saying with a look horror on her face, "Hold it, Tails. Were you about to suggest… that we start dating sometime?"

"Well, maybe…" Tails answered, trying to keep his cheeks from turning dark red. "If it's ok with you of course…"

Kitty finally sighed heavily, shaking her head, eventually replying with sadness, "Tails, look… I think it's time I was honest with you about something."

He now looked at her intently, as she said, trying to not let her emotions run wild, "Well, I'll start off by saying, that I am a bit flattered by how much you like me. It is somewhat nice to have some care deeply about you."

Tails' facial expressions quickly changed, as he smiled at her briefly, that is until she added, "But, Tails… you can't honestly expect me to be ok with this idea at all."

"What do you mean?" he inquired puzzled.

Kitty again let out a heavy sigh, replying, "Tails, did you not stop to think of our age difference at all before asking me this? You know I couldn't possibly date you now. It would be wrong for me to even consider it."

"I agree." He told her firmly. "I wouldn't dream of asking you to do this now."

"You're not? Then why did you bring it up?" she asked with puzzlement

"Well, I was actually referring to when I was of age." Tails explained.

"Of age? What do you mean by that exactly?" Kitty inquired.

"You know, when I turn eighteen." Tails replied. "By that time, it'll be more appropriate then."

Kitty groaned again in sadness. She finally figured out what he was trying to say. She then told him with another solemn shake of her head, "Tails, I'm sorry, but I cannot even agree to that idea either."

"What? Why not?" He asked, his ears and face drooping again. "It wouldn't be wrong then."

"No, it wouldn't…" Kitty replied softly. "But I'll be in my 30's by that time."

"So? Is that really a problem?" he inquired.

"Yes it is." The tan feline told him. "I… don't want to wait that long to find my soul mate."

"But, I can be your soul mate." Tails argued. "I-I'll be so good to you, you'll feel like a Queen."

"I bet I would too…" Kitty stated softly, now looking at the ground. "Nevertheless, I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline your offer, Tails."

Again, Tails' face drooped in sadness, asking, "Why? I don't understand. Am I not attractive to you or something?"

"Tails, you're very attractive looking, even a bit cute too." The tan feline explained, trying to not blush when mentioning that part. "But… you're too young for me. Even if we waited until you turned twenty one, you'd still be too young for my preferred age group of guys I choose to date."

While Tails looked on now more saddened than ever, Kitty told him, "Tails, I really am not comfortable dating any guys seven years younger or more than me. I'm just not. I'm sorry…"

"But… I love you, Kitty." he said with heartbroken whimper. "I… don't want to spend my life with anyone else."

Feeling deep sympathy for the two tailed fox, Kitty moved over and hugged him from the right side, replying with a soothingly tone of voice, "I love you too, Tails, but only as your friend."

Tails emotions almost perked at her words, until he heard the second part of that sentence.

Kitty then said to him after letting go, trying to cheer him up, "Listen, Tails, you shouldn't be concerning yourself with matters like this anyway. You're only eight. You should be enjoying your life, experiencing the joys of being a young one. Because… before you know it, you'll be growing up and be as old as me."

She soon added after a long pause to explain further, "Look, one day when you're older, you'll find that special someone whom you're destined to spend your life with. I don't know who or where she is, or even when you'll meet her, but I know she's out there. And when you do find her, you're going to be glad you chose her instead of me."

Tails though didn't believe a word of it at all, even when the tan feline added, "In fact, when you do finally find her, I'm going to be happy for you. I'll even be a bit jealous too."

"Yea, sure you will…" he muttered with bitterness in his voice, looking at the ground while tears started to form in his eyes.

"I'm serious here, Tails." Kitty reiterated, now tilting his chin up with her right hand to make him look at her. "I saw how sweet and devoting you was around me, even if it was creeping me out. If that's how you love someone as old as me, I can only imagine how well you'll treat her too. She is going to feel like a Queen indeed."

"But, I don't want another girl." Tails protested sorrowfully, now on the verge of breaking down. "I want it to be you."

Kitty by this time couldn't help but feel her own eyes welling up with tears. It was killing her inside to see him crying this much. She then said while wiping his tears away with her right hand, "Tails, I'm sorry, but we just aren't meant to be. If you were maybe Sonic's age, I'd might consider it, especially with you being so sweet and all. But, I'm afraid the best we'll ever be is close friends."

For the next twenty seconds, it was nothing but awkward silence between them, as Tails by now finally began to sob silently to himself, with tears fully streaming down his face.

Tails knew it was a long shot to begin with, but even he didn't realize how hard it would be to be turned down by the girl he loved with his whole heart and soul.

Kitty finally spoke up after a long pause, saying after hugging him tightly again, "I hope you'll understand one day, Tails, why I'm doing this."

"Yea, I understand all right…" he muttered sullenly with a lump in his throat.

The second Kitty let go of him, the two tailed fox slowly turned his back to her and began to walk off.

"Where are you going?" she asked a few seconds later.

"I need to take a walk now." He replied, not looking at her. "I have a lot of thinking to do."

"Kitty by this time finally stood up, saying with her right hand extended towards him, "Tails, please don't angry with me. I only told you these things because I really do care about your feelings. I didn't want to lead you on. You are my good friend after all."

Finally, after another two seconds, Tails did stop and turned around to look at her, saying with watershed eyes, "I'm not angry with you at all, Kitty."

Before she could ponder what he had meant by this, the two tailed fox added, "I'm angry with myself."

He then said as he walked off in sorrow, "You were right, Kitty. I should have known you would never agree to this. I was nothing but a lovesick fool, too blind to see the difference between fantasy and reality."

Kitty again tried to reason with him, "Tails, wait! Don't go. We can still talk this over and work something out."

Her words by this time sadly fell on deaf ears. Tails now was soon fading from her sights, getting smaller and smaller in shape as he slowly walked away.

Kitty then slumped down onto the mat on her knees in deep sadness, letting out a somber sigh. Even now, it caused her deep pain to have to turn him down. She knew he would not take it well, and sure enough, he didn't.

The poor lad… she thought to herself, looking at the ground. I can't believe he took my rejection so hard. I knew he would be sad and a bit heartbroken by me telling him no, but I didn't think he'd take it this badly.

It was at the moment Kitty really kicked herself for allowing Amy to talk her into going to the picnic.

If I only had put my foot down, she thought with disgust, Tails' heart wouldn't have been broken. I could have avoided this confrontation all together.

Nevertheless, she soon realized the folly of that statement, adding with disgust, who am I kidding? He was going to tell me this soon even I didn't go to this picnic! He was already that affactuated with me.

Deep down, she was tempted even now to go after Tails and try and talk to him again. However, she again realized he wasn't going to listen to anything she had to say.

His heart was clearly broken, and Kitty knew this.

The tan feline sadly now was in one of those, "screwed if you do, screwed if you don't" scenarios. Either way, it was a losing matter.

I feel so helpless inside, Kitty thought to herself, I really do want to comfort him now, but I know it'll only lead to more trouble if I do. But if I don't, who knows what's he'll do in his troubled state of mind?

While Kitty pondered over in her mind about what to do, she soon heard Sonic yell from the other picnic spot, "Amy, I'm not doing that!"

"Oh c'mon, Sonikku, it'll be romantic." She protested. "All the couples do this."

"But we're not even a couple yet." The blue hedgehog argued. "Seriously, this is pushing me past my comfort level."

Amy though wouldn't let it go, begging of him, "Please, Sonic, just this once. I… want to have one intimate moment with you."

Sonic then shook his head with disgust, replying, "Amy, you're not making any points with me now. This is not right of you to insist on it, especially where anyone can walk by and see it."

"Just try it one time." She suggested, now looking at him with her big green eyes in despair. "Please. After that, I'll never ask again unless you want to. I promise…"

So, with extreme reluctance, Sonic pulled out a fork and said while rolling his eyes, "Fine, just this one time…"

And with that statement, he cut a piece of an apple pie from their picnic basket and then had it slowly move towards her mouth, where she clamped down and chewed the piece of pie once it left the utensil.

After she swallowed it, Amy said with a smile, "Thanks. I really appreciate it."

"Glad that's over with…" Sonic muttered softly, putting the fork away.

"Wait, Sonikku." She protested. "You haven't finished yet."

"You said one time." He shot back.

"I meant the whole piece of piece." Amy explained.

"Say what?" Sonic by this time felt disgusted at her deceiving words, as Amy added, "C'mon, just serve me the rest of the pie on the plate and then you can stop."

"I can't believe you're making me doing this." He muttered, now angry at her.

"Sonic, please… I'm not asking for much." She told him humbly. "Can you just humor me on this one little request? I won't push you any further."

"You promise me that?" he inquired of her, looking at the pink hedgehog with arched eyebrows.

Amy nodded her head, replying, "I promise."

While Sonic served her the pie with extreme reluctance, Kitty during this time laid down on the picnic mat flat on her back, looking at the sky again, thinking to herself, Well, at least they're having a good time. I think…

Nevertheless, her mind was still heavily preoccupied with Tails. In spite of the fact Kitty felt this was the best thing to do for now, letting him cool off and gather his thoughts, she still couldn't but worry about what he would be doing during that period.

Would he dare run away because of my rejection? Do I even dare think he'd…?

Kitty instantly blew that notion off, saying to herself, No; Tails wouldn't dare do something that drastic because I turned him down. He just wouldn't… he's smarter than that.

However, that nagging thought soon came to her mind, as it said loudly within her, or would he?

At that moment, the tan feline was very tempted to leave and head back to Vanilla's home to gather her own thoughts, but knew she would have to wait until Sonic and Amy's picnic was over with.

I couldn't dare leave without them knowing where he is now; she thought to herself, I'd be a horrible friend to even consider something like that.

Meanwhile back in Central City a few days later, Topaz and Rouge prepared for their mission together.

Rouge by this time had recovered enough that she was able to leave the hospital, though she was still wearing a bandage on her head to protect her ailing wounds on the top and back of it.

Topaz meanwhile went to the Commander Tower and requested a chopper to head for Eggman's deserted island and do a thorough investigation.

The G.U.N Commander though put his foot down, replying to the suggestion with a frown, "Absolutely not! I will not lend you any G.U.N aircraft just so you and that renegade bat can go for a joy ride."

"You know that's not what we have in mind at all." Topaz shot back, deeply insulted by his words. "We just want to make sure Eggman is officially gone."

"Trust me, he is gone." Commander Tower told her firmly. "I had my men do an excavation and they found absolutely nothing to suggest that mad scientist is still among the living."

"That doesn't mean he is actually gone, Commander." Topaz argued. "You know how crafty Eggman is. He can fool you if you're not careful."

"If that terrorist was still alive, I'd think we'd see some evidence of it." The G.U.N Commander countered. "You don't just disappear this long without someone finding out or not."

"What about the G.U.N solider who saw a purple tentacle with a red claw?" Topaz argued again. "Don't you think that's should cause enough suspicion to do another search to make sure?"

"That was only seen by one member." Commander Tower shot back. "If two or more had witnessed it, I'd be willing to look into it, but I believe he was nothing more than seeing things. It is very hot around that island after all. I bet it was just a trick of the mind from the sun."

"He saw it though twice!" Topaz argued, now raising her voice. "Illusions don't appear the same two times in a row."

"Enough already…" The G.U.N Commander told her, now out of patience. "This discussion is closed. You and Rouge are not going to that island and that's final."

And with that statement, he turned his chair around 180 degrees to imply for the female G.U.N agent to leave his office promptly.

Topaz though wasn't about to let him win that easily. So, she said after a long pause, "Fine, if you're not going to do me this personal favor, then maybe I won't do mine anymore for you either."

That instantly got Tower's attention, as he then swung his chair and demanded, "What did you say?"

"You know what I'm talking about." Topaz reiterated, glaring at him intently. "You wanted me to keep Agent Katswell's status under wraps for the sake of the G.U.N morale. Well, I'm not so inclined to keep it anymore if you're not going to at least grant me one request."

"You're threatening me now?" By this point, Commander Tower was incensed, saying with a fierce glare, "I ought to fire you right this second. I don't care anymore if you have a wound shoulder or not. NOBODY threatens me and gets away it!"

"Go ahead and fire me." Topaz shot back. By this time, she no longer cared about her job, adding, "That'll only make me want to spill the beans about how rotten you were to Agent Katswell all the more."

Topaz had the G.U.N Commander in a serious bind, and he knew it. Either way, it was a lose-lose scenario.

He then said after a long pause, lowering his head to ponder his next move, "Ok, if I grant you this one request, you'll keep your word about not saying anything to the troops about my previous actions?"

"If you give me full G.U.N support for this mission," Topaz reiterated, "I'll gladly agree to keep silent about it for the rest of my career."

While he pondered this further, Topaz added, "In fact, I'll even agree you can terminate my job at G.U.N if I dare ask you for anymore bizarre favors."

"Hmmm…" Again, the G.U.N Commander was in deep thought, soon replying after a long pause, now looking her in the eye while crossing his arms together, "Very well then. I'll reluctantly agree to this request of yours in exchange for keeping your end of the bargain."

"Consider it done." Topaz replied quickly. She had said it so quickly, the G.U.N Commander wondered if he had asked for too little in exchange.

"But know this…" he said with a fierce glare. "Rouge will never be a G.U.N agent here again, even if she finds Eggman alive and brings him to us."

Commander Tower then added, "She has officially crossed the line, even more so than Agent Katswell did. Nothing she says or does will ever change my mind about this. Do you understand me?"

"Crystal clear, sir." Topaz answered with a nod. Deep down though, she felt Rouge should be given another chance. Nevertheless, she decided to not press her luck on this matter any further.

Moments later, the G.U.N Commander opened a drawer from his desk and pulled out an official G.U.N authorization note, writing down his list of instructions to the next in line of his assigned officers with a black pen.

Once he signed the seal at the bottom, Commander Tower handed it to Topaz and said, "Here you go. This paper will give you full authorization of whatever you need to carry out this silly little mission of yours."

While the female G.U.N agent took it in her possession, the Commander added, "But I'm almost certain you'll be wasting your time."

"We'll know that soon enough." Topaz told him, now putting the note in her right pocket.

After that was done, Commander Tower turned around in his seat again after closing his drawer, saying, "Now then, unless you have anything important left to say to me, please leave my office ASAP."  
>"As you wish, sir." Topaz replied with a brief pause. "Good day to you."<p>

And with that statement, the female G.U.N agent walked out of his office.

The split second she was closed the door behind her, Commander Tower thought with a look of disgust on his face, I really should have fired her for this disgusting conduct. But sadly, I would have paid for it even more than she would have.

Even now, the G.U.N Commander was very tempted inside to fire Agent Topaz right after their requested mission, just to show his absolute power over her. Nevertheless, he knew he could not even attempt it without a good reason. Topaz clearly had him over a barrel, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

Back on Mobius, Sonic and Amy's date finally came to a close. It was now around 5pm.

As they walked towards Kitty, arm and arm, she asked them out of curiosity, "So, uh, how did your picnic go?"

"Absolutely wonderful…" Amy replied with a heavenly smile, saying those words with as much passion as she could. "Wouldn't you agree, my love?" she asked Sonic a few seconds later, looking him in the eye flirtatiously.

Not surprisingly, Sonic didn't even come close to sharing her excitement, replying as confidently as he could without getting himself in trouble, "Yea, it was pretty nice, Amy."

Amy then hugged him tightly, making the blue hedgehog cringe all the more, as she soon asked with love in her eyes, "Does that mean we'll go out again sometime?"

"Um, maybe…" Sonic answered awkwardly with a slight groan. "I'll have to get back to you on that."

Just then, Sonic finally noticed Tails' absence, asking while the pink hedgehog continued to snuggle with him, "Hey, where's T2?"

The second he asked that, Kitty quickly lowered his head in sadness, replying, "I'm afraid he ran off."

"What, why?" Amy asked, now deeply concerned as well, letting go of Sonic to look at Kitty. "What would make him do something like that?"

"Take a good guess." The tan feline retorted with a sigh, crossing her arms together.

In that moment, both hedgehogs knew what she was referring to.

"Oh… I get it. Tails told you his inner feelings for you, but he must've taken it wrong when you turned him down and then left heartbroken." The pink hedgehog concluded.

"Bingo." Kitty replied bluntly. She then added while looking at the ground again, sighing heavily this time, "Poor lad… I really am worried about him now."

"Never mind that…" Sonic reiterated with a frown, now speaking up. "I'll go find him and we'll sort this out when I return."

However, he wouldn't get the chance, as Kitty grabbed him by his right arm and said firmly, "No, let him be for now, Sonic. You'd only make it worse now if you went after him."

"Let go of me, Kitty." The blue hedgehog ordered angrily. "Tails is my best friend. I have to find him and talk some sense into that young mind of his."

"And that will only make him more bitter if you do." The tan feline reiterated sharply.

"What are you talking about?" Sonic demanded, now looking at Kitty intently.

"Think, Sonic." Kitty told him, crossing her arms together. "Do you really think he'll listen to any scolding or lecture you'd give him now?"

"Why wouldn't he?" the blue hedgehog shot back. "He is my best friend after all. He'd most definitely listen to me, especially considering the way he looks up to me and all."

"I'm afraid he wouldn't in this case." Kitty reiterated. "Knowing Tails, he's probably so upset now; he might even turn on you if you tried to reason with him."

Sonic though tried to protest again, that is Amy spoke up, saying, "She's right, Sonic. Tails isn't in the mood to hear you out now."

"And how would you know that?" he demanded, looking at her with a frown.

"Because, Sonikku…" the pink hedgehog told him softly. "I've been in his shoes before. I know that feeling of bitterness he's now experiencing."

"When did you ever feel that way?" Sonic inquired with deep curiosity.

"How about the time when you intentionally missed our date awhile back?" Amy shot back, placing her hands at her hips while glaring at him. "Or when you used my feelings to help you get back to shore while on a cruise? You don't think that upset me?"

"I was desperate!" Sonic countered. "You know how I feel about water. What was I supposed to do?"

"That doesn't excuse your behavior for using me for your own personal gain!" Amy shouted at him, now pointing a finger in his face. "It was wrong and extremely hurtful!"

Even Kitty felt this way too, in spite of the fact she knew Amy smothered him at times.

"Look, I'm sorry, ok?" Sonic said to her, trying to calm the waters. "I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings either of those times. I just don't like being confined or forced at hammer point to take you out on a date."

When she heard Sonic mention the latter part of his sentence, Amy knew he had a point there. So, she said softly after a long pause, now a bit embarrassed herself, "I guess that was pretty rotten of me now that I look back on it."

"You actually forced him to take you on a date?" Kitty inquired with shock. "No wonder he's so reluctant to have a closer friendship with you."

"Would you please stay out of this?" Amy shot back, now glaring at the tan feline. "As if you've never made a mistake before!"

Ironically, Kitty couldn't find any rebuttal for her outburst at all. So, she did as she was told, though begrudgingly.

Amy then said to Sonic while looking at him with guilt in her eyes, "Look, I'm really sorry if I made you very uncomfortable around me. I too was desperate, so I tried almost anything to win your favor."

After hearing that, the blue hedgehog softened up somewhat, commenting with a sigh, "I guess we both did desperate things we shouldn't have…"

Amy then extended her right hand and placed it on his right shoulder, saying, "Even so, Sonikku, I forgive you for all the hurt you caused me in the past. It still stings a bit, but I don't want us to be at odds again, especially not after that nice date we just had together."

Sonic ironically didn't want to be at odds either, as Amy soon asked him after a brief pause, "Do you forgive me too?"

Not wanting to seem harsh and unfair, the blue hedgehog slowly nodded his head, replying softly, "Yea, sure thing, Amy…"

Amy then grabbed both of his hands with hers, adding with a warm smile, "Friends?"

Sonic also eventually smiled at her, saying sincerely, "Friends."

The two of them then hugged each other tightly, with Amy shedding a tear of relief in response to it.

Even Kitty at this moment couldn't help but feel somewhat happy for them. It was a very touching moment to say the least.

Ten seconds later, they finally let go, as Sonic soon said afterwards, "Anyway, I better go find Tails. Even if he is bitter, I need to speak with him."

"Sonic, you really need to let him cool off." Kitty reiterated. "I can tell he's really grieving now from being rejected."

"But it's getting dark out." The blue hedgehog argued. "We can't just let him stay outside all night."

"I'm not suggesting all night." The tan feline reiterated. "But let him be for a little while longer. I don't think he's ready to hear you out just yet."

And so, with extreme reluctance, Sonic gave in, replying after a heavy sigh, "Very well then… but I'm only going to wait until 8pm. Heartbroken or not, he needs some big brother counseling from me to help him cope with this."

Kitty couldn't find much to argue with there, so she nodded her head, saying, "Agreed. In fact, I'll even come help you find him if he hasn't returned by then."

"You sure that's a wise thing to do?" the blue hedgehog inquired. "I mean, I know he's going to be bitter towards you for awhile at least."

"That maybe true, but I do care about his feelings." Kitty reiterated. "I don't want him to feel I enjoyed turning him down. It hurt me a lot too to have to do it."

"Yea, I know…" Sonic said with a slight nod. "Anyway, let's be heading back for home and wait for him. Hopefully by now, Tails is coming to his senses and will return within the hour."

Sadly, Tails would not be returning any time soon at all. Instead, he stayed out in the meadows long after, still very angry inside about being turned down by the girl of his dreams.

By this time, he was now sitting on a small hilltop a couple of miles away, looking at the stars.

With tear stained eyes, he said to himself with anger in his voice, "I should never have fallen in love with that cat. What was I thinking? She's an adult compared to me!"

Not surprisingly, the two tailed fox caught himself saying bitterly while gritting his teeth, "I wish Kitty never came here. In fact, I wish I never even met here back in Central City. All she did was break my heart! And knowing her, she probably enjoyed it too! That witch!"

Tails though could no longer hold his head up high after saying that last part, thinking to himself with a sigh, who am I kidding? Kitty didn't do anything wrong. She if anything, tried to comfort me after turning me down. But, it still hurt so much inside. I feel like someone just thrusted an axe into my back.

At that moment, the two tailed fox never felt such an ache in his heart as he did now. It was driving him absolutely mad inside.

Again, he found himself saying things he shouldn't be, muttering, "Maybe I should leave and never come back. After my awful performance today, I'm probably nothing more now than a pathetic fool in the eyes of my friends."

Once more, the two tailed fox kicked himself for saying such things, thinking, angry at himself, Tails, you're going to have to man up and accept the fact you screwed up here. Sonic isn't to blame for this. Neither is Amy. Not even Kitty is at fault for you getting your heart broken. This is all on you.

Nevertheless, in spite of the fact he had just admitted this; Tails wasn't ready to walk home yet. He still had too much pride to give up wanting to be alone and sulk.

Before he knew it, the time soon reached 7:15pm, where is soon was getting colder out with every passing minute.

Even when a small cold breeze came swirling around him as well, the two tailed fox continued to fight it due to his emotional pride. He just was not ready to return home and face the music.

Nevertheless, ten minutes into it, Tails finally couldn't stand it any longer. He was now starting to shiver from the drop in temperature, making him mutter while groaning in disgust, "Oh, forget it… even if I do have a lot of pride, it's not worth catching a cold over."

And so, he finally swallowed what little of it he had left and started to walked back, saying to himself in his mind as he did so, You gotta face this like a man, Tails… you have no one to blame for this mishap other than you.

However, he couldn't even take twenty steps, when something in the sky caught his eye.

Tails soon looked up from the blinking object from above, pondering out loud, "Huh…? What's that?"

As it got bigger in diameter, he said with arched eyebrows, "It looks like, some kind of…"

Tails though wouldn't be able to get another word out. By this time, he now saw it was heading right towards him, and at blistering speeds as well.

Instantly, he dove out of the way with a frightening yelp, just barely missing getting hit by the large object. Then, not even five seconds later, he heard a loud crash from the west side of the meadow, causing a small billow of smoke to appear from it.

Tails quickly stood up a split second later, pondering out loud with deep suspicion again, "What in the world was that? Was that a… meteorite?"

With his curiosity getting the better of him, the two tailed fox ran towards it to see what it was.

There, about fifty feet up ahead, he finally saw what it was. Once he got a closer look, he commented with a gasp, "Wait a second… this isn't a meteorite. It's… a spaceship."

Indeed it was, as it was now flipped upside down, still smoking from before. Tails then surveyed the ruins to see if there were any signs of life in it.

At first, he saw none, not even when he opened up the cockpit to inspect the inside of it. However, when he walked around behind it to get another look, Tails finally saw something that took his breath away.

"Oh my goodness… It's a, it's a… I don't know what it is."

What he saw was none other a green skinned female in a flower woven dress, laying back first on the ground unconscious. She even appeared to have bruises on her cheeks as a result of the crash.

Tails then knelt down next to her on the right side to see if she was still breathing. Thankfully, she was. Nonetheless, something else about her caught his attention, saying while looking at her face, "That's odd… Part of her hair, it looks like flowers mixed in with human hair.

When he felt it with his gloves, his suspicions was confirmed. She was clearly not from Mobius at all, but an alien.

"She must be from another planet." Tails commented to himself softly. "But, why did she come here and crash land so abruptly? It doesn't make any sense."

In spite of his suspicions, Tails stated firmly after a brief pause, "Well, I'll find that out later. Right now, she needs immediate medical help and fast."

And so, not wasting anymore time, the two tailed fox carefully picked her up in his arms and began to run off as fast as he could towards his workshop to get her some help.

On the way there, he ironically couldn't stop himself from thinking while glancing at her as he ran, You know, I will say one thing about this alien female. She is actually kind of cute looking.

However, the split second those words crossed his mind, he instantly rebuked himself, thinking angrily, Tails, don't be a fool here! You just got your heart broken because you foolishly pursued romance, and now you're thinking about it again? What is the matter with you? Are you that desperate for someone to love?

Deep down though, Tails didn't even know his own heart on the matter anymore. He clearly was one emotionally confused fox now.

Nevertheless, he forced himself to drop the subject from his thoughts, thinking to himself again, Focus here, Tails! She clearly needs your help. At least do this one thing right today to make up for acting like a complete klutz earlier!

Meanwhile… Topaz and Rouge soon made their way to Eggman's deserted island via chopper to investigate.

Thanks to Commander Tower's full authorization paper, the female G.U.N agent and the renegade bat got the help and supplies they needed and then some. Deciding to take no chances, Topaz brought three choppers along with her, as well as a dozen soldiers onboard to be their lookouts.

Within an hour of takeoff, they arrived at the island, where they quickly landed on the sand near the shore.

Once they came to a halt, Topaz, Rouge and the soldiers stepped out of the choppers. The female G.U.N agent then asked them "Ok, where did you find the door to the underground part of Eggman's base?"

"Over there, Agent Topaz." One of them replied, pointing towards the northwest.

Topaz took a good look at it from her spot, where she soon glanced back at the solider and his comrades, announcing with authority, "Listen up, men. I brought you here to be our protection, as well as our extra eyes and ears. If you see anything suspicious around here, and I mean anything that is considered a threat, I expect you to inform me or Rouge here at once. Do I make myself clear?"

Since Topaz had complete authority over them now, they all nodded their heads and saluted, replying loudly in unison, "Yes, Ma'am."

"We will gladly carry out your orders as you command." One solider added a split second later.

Another then spoke up, inquiring, "Although, isn't this kind of a pointless mission?"

"What do you mean by that, solider?" Topaz interrogated with a frown.

"Well… we already picked clean this island with our excavation team several days ago." He explained. "If there was anything of Eggman's to be found, we would have discovered it already."

In spite of the fact she knew he had a point, Topaz reiterated nonetheless firmly, "You just let me worry about that. While I don't doubt the team earlier did a good job, I want to make sure they didn't leave any stone unturned."

Not surprisingly, all of the soldiers deep down felt she was wasting her time. Nonetheless, the same soldier from before answered respectfully, "Very well then, Agent Topaz. As you wish."

Topaz ironically was tempted to have them call her by a higher title, but thought better of it, saying instead, "Anyway, Rouge and I should no more than an hour inside the underground base. If we take any longer than that, I expect you to come find us as a precaution. Understood?"

Again, they saluted and said in unison, "Yes, Ma'am."

And with that salute, Topaz turned to her bat friend and asked while looking in the eye, "Are you ready to do this, Rouge?"

"Honey, I was born for this kind of work." Rouge reiterated firmly. "You just lead the way."

Topaz did exactly that, as she quickly walked towards the doors of Eggman's underground base and opened them, slowly stepping inside while retrieving a flashlight from her right pocket to help her see.

Rouge meanwhile followed her closely from behind while flying, where she then went ahead and said to her friend, "Allow me to be your guide. I've been in here before and know pretty much its ins and outs."

"You still remember it even after getting abruptly conked on the head?" Topaz inquired a bit dumbfounded.

Rouge quickly nodded her head in response, saying boldly, "Hey, I didn't become a world class bounty hunter for nothing. It's one of the traits you have to learn if you want to be elite at this line of work."

"Err… right." Topaz not surprisingly was a bit speechless at Rouge's words, but soon moved on, asking, "You want the flashlight then?"

"Nah, I don't need it." The renegade bat answered. "I can navigate pretty well in the dark, especially with my acute sense of hearing."

Deciding to take her up on it, Topaz then let Rouge what she did best… use her hunting skills to find anything of value.

However, as they soon discovered, there was nothing inside. The G.U.N excavation team had indeed picked the rooms clean anything of importance from Eggman's base. Even when they arrived in the room where Eggman had used the metal whale to escape, they found absolutely nothing.

Topaz then muttered after a thorough walkthrough, "Bah, I guess they were right. I don't see anything here at all that will help us find anything on Eggman's current whereabouts."

Rouge however didn't say anything in response, but instead searched around the west side of the room.

Topaz soon added a few seconds later with a heavy sigh, "Maybe this was a waste of time after all, Rouge…"

When the female bat didn't answer again, Topaz finally looked in her direction while pointing the flashlight at her, asking a bit confused, "Rouge, you ok?"

Rouge however was too preoccupied to answer, as she soon felt her hands around the western wall.

"Did you find something?" the female G.U.N asked inquired, now walking towards her.

"There was a computer table right here." Rouge stated, finally speaking up. "I remember Eggman was in this exact spot, checking thoroughly on the missile updates from G.U.N."

"Well, maybe he took it with him." Topaz suggested.

Rouge though shook her head, replying, "Not possible. Eggman had only two minutes to evacuate before the missiles struck. He would have no time to grab his computer gear unless it was a laptop, which I saw it clearly wasn't."

"How do you know that?" Topaz inquired puzzled.

"Trust me… I was watching him very closely while hiding behind one of the corners of the walls in his base." The renegade bat told her firmly. "I clearly saw it was a computer system built in to the wall."

Now feeling a bit amazed at her photographic memory, Topaz asked further, "But if that is true, why is it no longer here? I know G.U.N didn't recover Eggman's computer from their excavation. They would have been all over it had they did so."

Ironically, Rouge this time didn't have an answer for this dilemma. Nonetheless, she said in response, "I don't know for sure, but I think Eggman must've had it well hidden in case the missiles didn't destroy his underground base."

"Where could he hide it in here though?" Topaz asked, now more confused than ever. "It's nothing but metal walls with no storage compartments whatsoever."

Topaz had said this while pointing the flashlight in all directions.

Rouge meanwhile put her right hand under her chin and began to think long and hard inside. She then thought to herself, Topaz sadly is right. There are no compartments here. In fact, the only way I could see Eggman hiding something is if he...

Instantly, the female bat figured it out, as she quickly snapped her fingers together, saying with a look of glee, "I've got it!"

"You got what?" Topaz inquired, looking at her friend with puzzlement.

"The only way Eggman could hide something here is if the wall had a built in retractor." Rouge explained.

Topaz finally gasped in bewilderment, saying, "You don't mean that…"

"You bet I do." The female bat reiterated, where she then pointed at the wall in front of her, "The computer must be retracted behind here."

"But if that is indeed true, how do we get it to detract?" Topaz inquired.

This question put Rouge in deep thought once more, now trying to remember vividly what she had heard after getting hit from behind.

"Do you have any ideas at all?" the female G.U.N agent asked her, looking Rouge in the eye.

"Give me a sec here…" Rouge replied. "I'm thinking."

Topaz did as she was asked, now glancing around while pointing the flashlight in several directions, hoping to see some kind of switch from above near an obscure corner.

Within ten seconds, Rouge again snapped her fingers, replying loudly, "Wait, I remember it now!"

"You do? Well, tell me then." Topaz said, looking at her deeply curious.

"After I was down on the ground and started to lose consciousness, I distinctly remembered Eggman tapping the side of this wall in a certain sound pattern with his hand, followed by a slow whir sound in the same area."

"Then that means the tapping must be some kind of code!" Topaz exclaimed, now deeply entrenched at her statement. "But, do you remember how it went?"

For a third time, Rouge pondered it over long and hard, soon replying with a bit of hesitation, "I think I might know it. I'm not sure though…"

Rouge then knelt down and asked Topaz while placing her hands on the wall, "Flash the light near me to see if you can help me find anything."

Topaz instantly did as she was told. Once it flashed around Rouge, the renegade bat soon found what she was looking for, saying with a grin, "Bingo."

"What did you a find?" the female G.U.N agent inquired.

"There's a little black spot on this wall." Rouge answered, looking bat at her friend with a smile. "My guess is this is the spot Eggman uses to tap the wall to access his computer."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Topaz said. "Try and see if you can tap the exact same sound pattern with your hand."

Within moments, Rouge would do just that, now trying to remember it as best as she could. Not surprisingly, she at first failed since the memory was a bit fuzzy about it.

After trying a dozen times and coming up empty, Topaz soon commented while Rouge let out a frustrating groan, "Don't feel bad. I guess we'll just have to get the soldiers to help us pry the wall open."

"That might damage or even wreck the computer though." The renegade bat argued.

"I'm afraid we don't have many options here." The female G.U.N agent reiterated firmly. "We need to get that computer and fast. For all we know, Eggman could be plotting something this very moment."

"Give me a minute here…" Rouge said to her friend. "I'm not ready to give up just yet."

Wanting to be fair, Topaz decided to comply and let her try again.

Rouge meanwhile gritted her teeth, soon thinking to herself angrily, c'mon, what is that code? What is the pattern that mad man used to access his computer?

At that moment, the female bat racked her brain long and hard, even to the point of stressing herself.

Even Topaz could sense it, saying to Rouge with concern on her face, "Settle down. You don't need to blow a gasket over this.

Rouge though was determined to figure it out. She now had a personal vendetta against Eggman and wanted to make him pay for the sake of her pride by being the main one to crack his code in order to weaken him.

Again, Topaz said to her friend after seeing her struggle further, "Rouge, please stop it already. Your mind is already reeling from two blunt blows. You're only going to make it worse."

"I have to do this." Rouge shot back sharply. "Please, just give me one more minute here."

"Ok, but only one more." Topaz told her after a small pause. "I'm not going to let you fry your brain here over something you can't help."

In spite of those words, Rouge pressed on, trying as hard as she could now. I will crack this code if it's the last thing I do! She told herself in mind. I can't, and will not let Eggman beat me again!

Forty five seconds later, with still the same results as before, Topaz was ready to have her stop trying and call it quits. She then said with compassion, "Rouge, you did your best. It's not your fault Eggman outsmarted us. He just had a master plan here."

The split second those words left Topaz's mouth, Rouge quickly did a full body cringe, where she then turned her head and asked, "What did you just say?"

"I said Eggman had a master plan." The female G.U.N agent reiterated. "I'm not surprised at all, with him being a cunning scientist and all. Why do you ask?"

Instantly, two words ran through Rouge's mind like a swarm of buzzing hornets, repeating softly to herself, "Master plan… master plan… master plan…"

Moment later, the renegade bat stood up, shouting with glee, "Master plan… that's it! That's part of the code."

"I don't follow you." Topaz said, now more confused than ever.

"While I was waiting to pounce on Eggman, I heard him humming something along those lines a couple of times." Rouge explained. "The tapping sound pattern could be the song he was singing to himself."

"You're not serious!" Topaz exclaimed, her emotions quickly changing to bewilderment. "Well, do you remember how it went?"

"I think I do…" Rouge reiterated firmly. "Hang on."

Within moments, the renegade bat quickly knelt down and placed the knuckle of her right hand on the black dot, thinking firmly, C'mon, Rouge, you can do this. Make Eggman pay for what he did to you!

She then closed her eyes and tried to block out everything else in her mind. There, she slowly, but surely played out the lyrics of the song Eggman had been humming to himself in tap form.

This time, she succeeded. Immediately, the wall retracted itself, forcing both Rouge and Topaz to step back few feet to avoid getting hit on the head.

Both of them looked on in awe, as the retractable wall soon came to halt, now showing Eggman's computer in full detail.

Topaz instantly hugged her friend tightly afterwards, shouting with glee, "You did it, Rouge! Well done!"

After she let go of her, Rouge walked over and turned it on to access its main programs. However, the second it finally booted up, there was a password login screen.

This instantly dampened both of their spirits.

"Crap!" Topaz muttered with a frown, placing her hands at her waist. "I should have expected this…"

"Hang on…" Rouge told the female G.U.N agent. "Let me see if I can crack this."

"But how?" Topaz inquired with puzzlement. "I doubt Eggman would hum his own password. He isn't that careless."

"No, but I have a hunch it could be a phrase he feels strongly about." The renegade bat reiterated.

"You really think it's that simple?" Topaz asked, still not convinced.

"Well, there's only one way to find out…" Rouge replied with a sly grin.

And with that statement, the female bat soon began to try a list of words he would most likely use.

However, like before, she failed to crack the code. This password would prove very difficult to break.

Nevertheless, Rouge would not give up. She would give it her all before throwing in the towel.

"You know, we don't have to crack the code here." Topaz told while she typed in a phrase. "We have a team of technicians back at G.U.N HQ that could do that for us."

"Maybe, but there's a good chance Eggman might have installed a security program as a precaution that would wipe clean his data if this computer was abnormally removed." Rouge argued. "If that happens, we have no chance of finding out his whereabouts."

"Can you even do that with a computer?" Topaz asked, now hearing an invalid password sound effect from the speakers after the female bat hit the enter key.

"I wouldn't put it past Eggman." Rouge reiterated with a frown, soon typing another one. "He is very crafty."

Topaz couldn't argue with that one iota.

A minute later, Rouge continued to swing and miss at her password attempts. She unfortunately was not able to figure it out for the time being. Even so, she kept plugging away, wanting to try every single combination that the madman would think of.

Topaz meanwhile saw a timer near the top right of the screen abruptly appear, ticking down to two minutes and counting. She quickly realized what it was for, saying, "Rouge, I think you had better stop."

"Why?" the female bat inquired, typing yet another password that eventually failed with an error buzz.

"I think that timer might have something to do with what you mentioned earlier." Topaz explained. "It could even be a lockout mechanism program that would prevent us from accessing it at all."

Rouge sadly couldn't deny that was a very strong possibility.

She then said with a frown, "Well, I've tried just about every password he would use if it was going to be about his personal achievements or gloats. It must be something else."

"What else is there?" Topaz inquired.

Rouge now thought long and hard, where she soon smirked with satisfaction, replying, "I can only thing of one other topic that Eggman would definitely make a password about."

"What's that?" Topaz asked further.

Slowly turning her head towards her friend, Rouge answered with the same smirk on her face, "Sonic."

Instantly, the female G.U.N agent gasped, saying with a snap of her fingers, "Of course… Eggman hates that blue hedgehog more than anything."

She then asked Rouge a bit hesitant, "But, surely he wouldn't make it easy if he did. It must be a really long one if that's the case."

"True…" Rouge replied. "But, I think I might know some phrases he would use concerning him."

"Well, whatever you're going to do, you better do it fast." Topaz told her firmly. "The timer's running out."

Indeed it was. The timer was now at fifty nine seconds and counting.

Seeing time was not on their side, the renegade bat now worked as fast, but a methodical as possible to figure it out. She would not give up until the very end.

Sadly, Rouge struck out again and again, as the invalid password sound effect buzzed time every time she hit the enter key.

It was now less than twenty five seconds from activating.

"Rouge, please stop." Topaz pleaded. "We can't risk this computer getting locked out here or worse."

"Hang on, I've got one more idea here." The renegade bat replied firmly.

With only a handful of precious seconds left, Rouge now went for broke, thinking with a sigh, if it isn't this one, then I guess Eggman really has beaten me here.

That thought though deeply angered her, thinking again, No! I will not let Eggman beat me if I have anything to say about it.

Moments later, she typed in one final password, none other than the words run together, Ihatethathedgheog.

Ok, here's goes nothing…

And with that thought, Rouge hit the enter key with less than ten seconds to go, where she then closed her eyes in a cringe, expecting to hear the invalid buzz again.

This time however, it didn't happen. Instead, she heard another sound, one that would put her at ease.

Within seconds, the words, "Access granted." came onto the screen.

By this time, Topaz was now more dumbfounded than psyched up at this, saying with her mouth open in shock, "Oh my… how did you figure it out?"

Strangely, not even the renegade bat knew for sure, but replied with a shrug, "I just thought Eggman might write something like that. I guess I got lucky."

Topaz though wasn't so sure, but said nonetheless with a shake of her head, "Anyway, let's see what we can find here…"

Rouge then began to search the main hard drive to see if there were any documents or program files that would help them learn of his possible whereabouts.

Sadly, like the last two times, Eggman covered up his tracks pretty well. His hard drive by this time was mostly blank, as he had saved his main data on another storage device.

"Man, Eggman's brilliance is really starting to irritate me." Topaz muttered with a frown while Rouge continued to search the drive. "We didn't even leave a crumb for us to find."

"Maybe he did…" Rouge answered after a long pause. "But we just don't know it yet."

"How do you figure?" Topaz inquired, looking at her friend intently.

"Since Eggman was taken by surprise by how soon the missiles were arriving after he knocked me out," Rouge explained, "I doubt he had time to get rid of every single nook and cranny."

"But there's nothing here…!" the female G.U.N agent protested. "I'm seeing no files at all, nadda, zilch!"

Rouge ironically couldn't argue with that one iota. Still, she wouldn't give up until it was confirmed for the sake of her personal pride.

A minute later, with the same results, the renegade bat soon stopped and placed her right hand over her chin, commenting, "Well, one thing is certain. If there's any files here, they aren't visible at all."

"You think they might be well hidden?" Topaz inquired.

"I don't think it, I know it." Rouge reiterated firmly. "Give me a sec here…"

Moments later, Rouge soon searched the hidden files with a couple of clicks. Again sadly, her hunt would unfortunately come up empty, as even the hidden files were gone now.

"I think it's time we stopped this wild goose chase, Rouge." Topaz told her with a defeated sigh. "Eggman sadly has covered up his tracks here too well."

"I'm not quitting just yet." The renegade bat told her firmly. "I'll search every seam of this drive if I have to!"

By this time, Topaz finally could tell Rouge's refusal to give up was indeed a personal one. So, she asked her bat friend, "Rouge, are you… keeping at it because you felt Eggman humiliated you in his underground base and you want to strike back in revenge?"

At first, Rouge didn't answer, as she kept her eyes and ears on the screen, searching for every possible loophole she could find.

Topaz then said again to get her attention, "Rouge…?"

"I rather not talk about it." The female bat answered a bit sharply, while clicking away at a rapid pace. "I'm kind of busy at the moment anyhow, nothing personal."

For the next ten seconds, Topaz didn't say anything in response, but glanced at Rouge a bit saddened, eventually saying to her, "So, it is true. You… feel you have to do this in order to settle the score."

At that moment, Rouge almost became unglued, now abruptly stopping her clicking of the mouse. Topaz had indeed hit the nail on the head here, but refused to acknowledge it.

Topaz then told her with compassion, "Rouge, it's ok. I understand your pain. Eggman hurt me a lot too during that mission. You don't need to constantly wear your emotions on your sleeves about it."

Tears soon began to form in the renegade bat's eyes, saying while trying not to break down, "Topaz, please… I really don't want talk about this now. I need to focus here."

Topaz now knew without a shadow of doubt that Eggman's antics really had upset Rouge, especially considering the fact she couldn't even look her friend in the eye while saying it.

So, for the sake of her feelings, Topaz backed off for now.

Rouge then said after composing herself with a clearing of the throat, "Well, there are no hidden files here either. I guess that was a waste of time."

Topaz quickly put her non injured arm on Rouge's right shoulder, saying softly to her, "C'mon, let's call it a day and call in the soldiers. You did your best here. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

Rouge ironically was tempted to wrench away from her grasp in frustration, but didn't for out of respect for her friend. She soon said after a brief pause, "Hang on. Let me check one last thing first."

"What is there left to check?" Topaz inquired. "I mean, there are no visible or hidden files on this drive."

"No, but there are system files." The renegade bat replied.

"The system files wouldn't be of any use to us." The female G.U.N agent argued. "They're for the sole purpose of booting up the computer."

"For the most part, yes…" Rouge answered after a brief pause. "But if I know Eggman, I think there's a good chance he might have hacked his remaining files to disguise them as system ones in order to fool us."

Realizing this could indeed be a possibility, Topaz said to Rouge, "Well, give it a try then. I guess it couldn't hurt."

Rouge did indeed just that, as she soon checked the system file database one after the other.

Like the previous two file searches, the renegade bat's attempts currently came up empty.

"Looks like there's nothing here either." Topaz commented after twenty seconds.

Sadly, even Rouge was beginning to think so herself.

However, halfway into her search, one particular file caught her eye, one named none other than, red

"Stop right there, Rouge!" Topaz told her.

Rouge did just that, as she asked while looking back at her, "What is it?"

"That file… it has the same name as the description of the G.U.N solider who saw something around the shore." Topaz explained.

"You think that's the one we're looking for?" Rouge inquired with arched eyebrows

"There's only way to find out… quick, click that file and see if it'll open any documents or PowerPoint program." The female G.U.N agent ordered.

Again, Rouge did as she was told, trying to open both programs.

The first one was a bust, as the word program didn't recognize it. The second however did, as it soon opened a very large, very detailed Power Point file.

Rouge quickly looked back at her friend with a proud smile on her face, saying, "Well done, Topaz. You helped me crack it."

By this point, Rouge didn't care about her pride so much as wanting to weaken Eggman.

Topaz soon smiled back at her, saying, "My pleasure, friend. Anyway, play the file to see what it does.

When Rouge did, it soon revealed a dark secret, something Topaz soon realized her now dearly departed friend had been right all along about.

The file first showed the metal whale Eggman used to escape under the island shore. After that, it showed an animation of it departing from a secret chamber in the underground base and then the Egg Hawk taking flight out of it about fifty feet off shore.

"So Kitty was telling the truth after all…" Topaz commented softly. "Eggman really did escape in a metal whale and then fly out in another aircraft to escape."

"I take it by the way you're talking Commander Tower didn't believe her when she went after him." Rouge replied.

"Yea, you could say that." Topaz said back with a frown. "And it's because he didn't believe her, she left for Mobius."

"Is that really the only reason she left?" the renegade bat asked, not convinced.

"No, there's more to it than that." Topaz told her. "But, I'll tell you about it some other time. Keep playing the program."

Rouge would do just that, as the program soon revealed part two of Eggman's plans. This one… would intrigue two gals even more than before.

The program soon showed what would have happened had Eggman not been stopped. After about one hundred miles from the island base, the mad doctor would then transfer to a purple metal octopus with red claws while sending his Egg Hawk via auto pilot to his jungle base in the Mystic Ruins.

When Topaz saw the diagram of the metal octopus, she knew for sure why it had been poking around the island during a G.U.N excavation.

"So that's why that thing was there… Eggman was on a reconnaissance mission to see the aftermath of his island base." The female G.U.N agent stated.

"He would have no doubt killed me too after finding out it was still intact, even taking the Chaos Emerald that was currently in my possession." Rouge added with a frown.

"Kitty really must have thrown a huge wrench into his plans." Topaz concluded after a brief pause. "That's why he was there… with his aircraft now destroyed, he had to go return to his base and clean up any loose ends since it set him back a great deal."

"I guess this unfortunately proves Eggman is indeed still alive." Rouge replied. "Why else would that thing show up if he wasn't? I mean, his robots were all destroyed from the missile blast."

Topaz knew her friend was right here. There was no other explanation for the purple metal octopus being near the island.

Seconds later, part three of Eggman's plan played. This one, would now shock and horrify them.

Exactly two weeks later, the mad doctor would initiate this phase, as he would bring back a non nuclear megaton torpedo from his jungle base via EggHawk. Then, after it was it transferred to his metal octopus, the mad doctor would soon shoot it at a fleet of G.U.N ships in the harbor, including a couple carrying a full load of flammable jet fuel.

The aftermath from the impact…? none other than a massive explosive, wiping out at least half of Central City or more with a single blast.

Topaz and Rouge instantly looked on in horror at the last part of the PowerPoint diagram. It now showed a heavily destroyed city, even a huge crater in its path.

"According to Eggman's calculations," Rouge said, "the blast would easily kill over two hundred thousand civilians upon impact. After that, he would invade the city and take over the remains of it, turning into his new empire."

Instantly, Topaz banged on the table with rage, even startling the renegade bat.

"Is something wrong?" Rouge asked her.

"That rotten Abraham Tower…" the female G.U.N agent seethed with a hiss. "Kitty was trying to warn him about the possibility of another attack after taking out Eggman's aircraft, but he blew her off, even suspending her! He really is a disgrace as leader of the group!"

"He suspended her? Seriously" Even Rouge couldn't help but be shocked at this news.

"Yes, he did…" Topaz replied, now composing herself. "But now he's going to seriously regret it once I show him this file. This clearly proves Kitty was only looking out for the city's best interests."

Moments later, she told Rouge, "Save that file to a flash drive. I've got a hunch you maybe right about this computer erasing everything it if we try to remove its system abruptly."

Since they had brought one with them as a precaution, Rouge didn't have to be told twice. She quickly copied the file to the flash drive within a matter of seconds.

After that was done and the computer was shut off, Topaz said to Rouge, "Ok, let's get going, I'll have the G.U.N soldiers have this computer removed and searched as an extra precaution. We might as well bring it with us in case there's anything else left for us to find."

Rouge quickly her nodded her head, as she and Topaz quickly headed back for the top of the island.

On the way out, Rouge asked of Topaz, "So, what exactly happened between the Commander and Kitty? I know she got suspended and all, but did she really quit because of that?"

Topaz soon let out a heavy sigh, answering, "Actually, there's more to it, but I'll tell you later. Right now, we need to get back to Central City."

Rouge though said after a brief pause, "Please, I have to know. At least it'll help me understand somewhat why Catwoman felt she couldn't stay here any longer."

With another heavy sigh, the female G.U.N finally relented, replying, "Very well, I'll tell you on the chopper ride back home after we're done here. Can you wait until then?"

Rouge again nodded her head, where she soon to herself as they continued to walk, Boy, the Commander must have really upset Kitty for her to quit so abruptly. I can only wonder what went on during that confrontation. It must have been very ugly to say the least.

Later that night on Mobius, Sonic and the others waited anxiously for Tails' return while standing near his workshop. It was now 7:30pm.

Sonic by this time was starting to lose all patience, muttering a few minutes later with a frown, "That's it… I can't stand here any longer. I'm going to find my lil bro right here and now."

But again, Kitty, who on his right side, grabbed his right arm firmly again before he could take one step with her left hand, saying, "Sonic, you said you'd wait until 8pm. You need to be a man of your word."

"I'm sorry, but I can't any longer." The blue hedgehog shot back. "I have to find him before something or someone else does."

"I'm sure he'll be fine for a little while longer." The tan feline reiterated. "Just be patient."

Deep down though, Kitty felt like a hypocrite of her words, as she too couldn't help but wonder what the two tailed fox was up to now.

Thankfully though, they didn't have to wonder for much longer. A minute later, Tails finally came into view, now flying in while carrying the new alien girl he had found in the meadow in his arms.

"There he is!" Amy exclaimed happily while pointing towards him.

It was then Sonic, along with Kitty, saw what was in his arms.

"What's he holding there?" the tan feline asked puzzled. "It looks like… some living thing."

"Never mind that." Sonic replied firmly. "I've got to talk to him now."

However, when he rushed up to confront his little brother, Tails though beat him to it, saying out of breath after landing, "Sorry bout taking off, Sonic, but I needed some time alone to gather my thoughts."

Sonic again was about to speak, when Kitty finally came running up, saying with relief, "I'm so glad to see you're safe, Tails. I was really worried about you."

Tails though could barely even look at the tan feline now, replying with a mumble, "Oh… well, I… um, thanks."

Kitty soon noticed this change herself, asking, "Tails, you ok?"

But again, the two tailed fox barely responded to her. He sadly was still too heartbroken inside to even look Kitty in the eye now.

Kitty could sense this herself, but didn't get to ask him further about it, as Sonic now spoke up, asking, "So what do you have there in your arms now?"

"It's not a what, but a who, Sonic." Tails told him firmly. "I found this female near a spaceship and was going to take her back to my workshop to help her recover."

"Say what?" Sonic by this time was a bit confused, inquiring further, "Well, if that's the case, why didn't you take her to Vanilla's home? She has room to help this new gal recover."

Tails though looked away with shame, replying, "Sorry, I… just couldn't make myself go there."

"Why not?" Sonic demanded. "What's gotten into you?"

"I… think you know." Tails replied sheepishly, still not looking the blue hedgehog in the eye.

Within seconds, Sonic instantly figured out, saying with a frown while crossing his arms together, "Oh for crying out loud… this is no time to wallow in self pity, T2! I can clearly see this girl needs help just by looking at her. How could you even think of taking her to workshop? Why, it's not fit for any living thing to recover in."

"That's not true!" Tails argued sharply, trying to fight back tears. "I could easily have taken care of her in here. Stop picking on me already."

"I'm not trying to pick on you," Sonic reiterated firmly, "but I can't believe you would actually do something for your own convenience rather than do what's best for her. That almost makes you look selfish now, lil bro."

"I am not selfish!" Tails shouted at him in anger, now no longer able to fight the tears coming down his face. "I'm heartbroken, which is something you clearly are oblivious about me now!"

Kitty finally intervened a split second later, saying to the blue hedgehog with a frown before he could answer back, "Sonic, I think it's time you backed off and let him be. Tails clearly is upset now and you're only making it worse by scolding him."

Sonic though tried to argue with her, but even Amy chimed in right away, saying with a frown of her own, "She's right. Leave him alone, Sonikku. He's clearly had a rough day."

"But, but, I…"

Seeing the frowns on their faces, Sonic finally gave it up, saying to Tails while looking him in the eye sheepishly, "Sorry, bro. I wasn't trying to upset you."

Tails though was still upset to forgive him at the moment, as he was now glancing down at the green colored alien female, looking at her with sympathy.

Sonic then suggested after a long awkward pause, "Anyway, allow me to take her to Vanilla's house for you since you don't want to go now."

"That's not a good idea." Kitty said, now speaking up.

"Why not?" the blue hedgehog demanded in outrage. "I can get her there faster than any of you."

"And that's why I don't want you to." The tan feline reiterated. "The last thing she needs is a serious jolt of speed to her weakened body now."

Again, Sonic couldn't find a rebuttal, as he soon gave in after several stutters, eventually saying with a frustrated sigh, "Fine, you do it then."

Kitty quickly nodded her head and walked towards the two tailed fox, saying, "Give her to me, Tails, I'll take her to Vanilla's home and see she gets proper care."

Tails at first resisted since he still was bitter inside at her. Sonic though finally spoke up, saying firmly, "C'mon, bro, you can at least hand her to Kitty. You want this gal to get well, don't you?"

After Sonic put it that way, Tails very reluctantly handed her to the tan feline, though barely looking Kitty in the eye as he did so.

Once she was in Kitty's arms, she turned to Amy and said, "C'mon, walk back with me in case Vanilla needs any extra help."

"What about Sonic?" Amy inquired.

"I think he should stay here with Tails and have a personal talk with him for now." The tan feline replied. "I can see he needs some big brother counseling."

Deep down, Amy wanted stay, but realized Kitty was right. So, she nodded her head and said, "Ok then. I'll be right behind you."

Before Kitty began to walk off, she turned to Sonic and told him with a frown, "Be gentle with Tails, ok? He needs your understanding now, not your lectures."

"Ok, ok, I get it." Sonic answered with annoyance. "I'll be nice to him."

Seconds later, Kitty then turned to the two tailed fox and said with compassion, "Tails, listen… as soon as your heart begins to heal, feel free to talk to me again. Just because I can't be your girlfriend doesn't mean we can't at least have a good friendship."

Tails again didn't answer her, as hearing the word, "girlfriend" made him bitter inside all over again.

Sonic though gently nudged him with his right elbow at his chest, saying, "Tails, she's trying to make up with you. At least say something in response."

After a long pause, Tails finally spoke up and looked at her, though with heartbroken and sullen tone in his voice, "Sure thing, Kitty. S-see you later…"

Sadly, Kitty knew that was all she was going to get out of him. So, she began to walk off with Amy following closely behind.

Once they were at small distance away, Sonic said to his little bro, "Tails, you're going to have to reconcile with her sooner or later. You know she didn't mean you any harm."

"Yea, I know…'" the two tailed fox replied softly with a sigh. "But I can't even look at her now without my heart aching again. It hurts that much to be rejected."

Sonic sadly didn't know what to say in response, but replied after another long pause while looking at the sky, "Time heals all wounds, lil bro. You'll come to terms with this soon enough. Trust me."

Tails though deep down felt he would never get over his pain. In spite of the fact he couldn't even look at the tan feline now, his heart in a way still genuinely loved her. He even ironically cared about her somewhat too.

She in a sense was one in a million to him, even now.

Several hours later in Central City, Topaz and Rouge returned to G.U.N HQ, even abruptly walking into the Commander's office while he was doing some personal paperwork.

"You know, you really are starting to me make me dislike you more and more, Agent Topaz…" Commander Tower said, glaring at her after looking up. "I'm starting to think that you feel you can do whatever you want now around me."

"Save it, Commander." Topaz shot back angrily while walking towards his desk. She then softly tossed the flash drive on his desk, adding, "You are in no position to scold me after what Rouge and me found in Eggman's base."

"Come again?" By this time, the G.U.N Commander was losing all patience for this banter of hers.

"We found additional evidence in his base, sir." Topaz told him sharply, now standing near his desk, placing her hands on the front of it to learn against, "And it makes you look even worse than before for harshly scolding Agent Katswell."

"Would you knock off the low blows already?" Commander Tower demanded with disgust. "I said I messed up. What more do you want from me?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe dropping her suspension and giving Agent Katswell a hefty promotion might help." Topaz replied sarcastically. "Too bad I don't know how to bring her back so you could actually do that."

Her tone though was more anger than sarcasm.

"Agent Topaz, I'm warning you. If you dare…"

"Just look at the drive already, Commander!" Topaz shouted, now banging on his desk abruptly with her right hand.

Topaz's actions now even completely startled him, as she added with a fierce glare, "If you still think I'm out of line after you see it, go ahead and fire me. I'm starting to dislike working here anyway, especially under you."

And so, Commander Tower did just that, as he booted up his computer from the right side of his desk, attached the flash drive to a USB port a few seconds later.

However, before he could hit play the file, the G.U.N Commander then got an update from his command radio.

"What is it?" he demanded with arched eyebrows. "I'm kind of busy at the moment."

"Sir, I have urgent news!" a G.U.N solider told him with deep panic in his voice.

Commander Tower finally let out a frustrated sigh, responding, "Go on. What's this news you're trying to tell me?"

"One of our main G.U.N ships that was transferring top secret weapons to another base has been sunk!" the same solider told him frantically.

"WHAT?" By this time, the G.U.N Commander was fully entrenched by this news, demanding, "How is it that even possible? Those ships are nearly unsinkable."

Commander Tower then inquired after a brief pause, "Was it hit by an explosive?"

"Negative." The same G.U.N solider answered. "The bottom hull was abruptly ripped apart by a good half dozen diameters."

This news now alarmed even Topaz and Rouge, as the G.U.N Commander asked further, "How is that even possible? The bottom hull is the thickest part of the ship!"

"I don't know myself." The G.U.N solider told him. "I'm just getting reports from the handful of troops who survived it."

"What? You mean to tell me most of the soldiers on that fleet lost their lives?" Commander Tower demanded.

"I regret to inform you that that is indeed true, sir. Most of them unfortunately drowned, were cut in two, or are MIA."

The G.U.N Commander then instantly let out a disgusted groan after hearing that, "saying loudly while placing his right hand on his forehead, "I cannot believe this! Are you actually implying something in the water attacked the ship?"

"That is affirmative, Commander." The G.U.N solider told him. "One of the survivors said they saw a large purple octopus underneath. It even had red claws according to their report."

A purple octopus with red claws…? No, it can't be! Commander Tower thought to himself.

"Are you absolutely sure that's they saw something like that?" the G.U.N Commander inquired.

Topaz meanwhile during this time began to click to a certain part of the PowerPoint file while he was distracted with this report.

"Yes, that G.U.N solider swears up and down that's what he saw in the water. It even tried to attack him according to his testimony."

Commander Tower though wasn't ready to concede to this notion just yet, protesting, "That's not possible! No octopus has that kind of genetic structure. They have tentacles, not…"

He was unable to finish that line, as Topaz now showed him up and close, rotating PowerPoint image of Eggman's E-38 Octocon on his computer screen.

It left him so speechless, that even the solider asked after a long pause, "Sir, are you there?"

"I'll… have to call you back." Commander Tower told him awkwardly. "Something's come up."

"But, sir…"

The G.U.N Commander though turned off the radio, as he now looked at Topaz, inquiring with horror, "Please tell me I'm seeing things here. You mean to tell me that that thing is…"

"Yes." Topaz reiterated with a heavy frown. "That octopus is one of Eggman's E-series robots. He obviously is using it now to help rebuild his operation."

By this point, Commander Tower was dumbfounded, as the female G.U.N agent stated with full disgust in her voice, "You see… this is what happens when you let your partiality and ego get in the way. It leads to nothing but chaos and death."

Topaz then reiterated her point even further, as she now showed him what Eggman was planning to do to Central City, had he gotten away. To say the least, it left the G.U.N Commander with a jaw dropped expression in absolute bewilderment.

Nevertheless, he commented with a heavy sigh after regaining his composure,  
>"Unbelievable… to think that rookie G.U.N agent actually came in and upstaged me at my own job… that is nothing short of humiliating."<p>

"That's the difference between two of you, sir." Topaz reiterated, still glaring at him. "Agent Katswell came here as a humble and genuine rookie G.U.N agent, wanting nothing more than to help us take care of what's really important when dealing with a terrorist like Eggman, whether it was conventional or not." She then added with full rebuke in her voice, "You on the other hand… you just wanted to make yourself look good on TV and save your own hide if it came down to it, even if it meant having innocent bystanders and soldiers lose their lives needlessly in the process."

This time, Commander Tower had nothing to say in his defense. Instead, he looked away in complete shame.

Topaz soon added to drive her point home, "This PowerPoint is more than enough evidence to have you demoted by the President, if not fired. You would have been responsible for the deaths of countless lives, and all because you just wouldn't listen to someone who saw things up-close firsthand."

Commander Tower finally looked at the female G.U.N agent after a long pause, retorting in disgust with anger, "I suppose you're going to use this to blackmail me now for the rest of my life, aren't you? Yea, go ahead. Why not? At least then you'll be no better than what you're judging so harshly now."

Topaz then shook her head at him in sadness at his words, replying, "Sir, you really must not think very highly of me to even consider that I'd do something of that nature. I have no intentions or even thoughts of wanting to use this to get back at you." She soon added after a brief pause, "My only intention in this matter was for you to finally get a clue and see the light about how wrong you were in punishing someone who clearly helped you win the battle at Eggman's base."

After Topaz put it that way, Commander Tower could not even look her in the eye now. Instead, he said softly at her within seconds, "Fine, you win. I was completely in the wrong here. Agent Katswell was indeed a true hero to the citizens of Central City after seeing that PowerPoint file of Eggman's."

Topaz could sense he had said this sentence with complete contempt, hating each word that fell from his lips with every fiber of his being.

Commander Tower then looked her in the eye after a long pause, inquiring with a frown, "There, I said it. Are you happy now?"

"If you plan to make things right with her, then yes… I am indeed." The female G.U.N agent answered.

"Fine… if she ever comes back to our group, I'll… personally apologize and reinstate her." Commander Tower reiterated sharply. "I'll even promote her." He then added firmly, "As long of course as you agree to never, EVER show that file to anyone within this organization."

"Deal." Topaz replied with a nod. "I didn't plan to show anyone it anyway, at least not for awhile."

After she said that, there was silence for over twenty seconds, as the G.U.N Commander finally spoke up, stating with a clearing of the threat, "Anyway, leave me in peace now. I have a lot of thinking to do here anyhow."

"As you wish, sir."

And with that statement, Topaz and Rouge slowly walked away from his desk and left the room, closing the door behind them as they did so.

Once the door shut, Commander Tower banged his desk with his right hand several times in complete rage. Deep down, he was absolutely incensed at the fact he had to eat humble pie about Kitty.

I cannot believe that feline was actually right about Eggman in this matter! He thought angrily to himself, placing his hands on his forehead while looking at the floor. How does she do it? How is it even possible her words would come back to haunt me? It's just… so... embarrassing!

Not surprisingly, Topaz and Rouge heard the banging from a distance, but didn't flinch much at it. In fact, Topaz was even somewhat expecting it.

Rouge then told her friend with a smile as they walked away, "Wow, you were great in there. I never saw you be so bold around someone in authority over you in my life. It was almost inspiring how you took over."

Topaz slowly looked at the female bat, replying with a sly smile, "I did what I had to do, Rouge. I wasn't about to let him get away with what he did to Kitty. It was nothing short of shameful."

Rouge, who by this time had heard the whole story, reiterated with a nod, "Indeed."

For the next ten seconds, neither of them said anything in response, that is until the renegade bat asked as they entered the elevator to head downstairs, "So, now what? Since we now know Eggman is indeed is still alive, what do we do about it?"

Ironically, Topaz this time didn't have an idea about their next step since the news of the G.U.N ship sinking had come out of nowhere. Nevertheless, she replied after thinking it over long and hard, "Only one thing to do… investigate and try to pinpoint Eggman's current location."

"What for?" Rouge inquired with puzzlement. "Can't G.U.N HQ do that themselves?"

"Yes, but I don't trust them anymore." Topaz reiterated. "Kitty made it clear to me during our mission together… that if you want something done right; you need to do it yourself."

Not surprisingly, the female bat couldn't argue with that point one bit.

"C'mon, let's get down to the harbor and see for ourselves what exactly happened to that G.U.N ship." Topaz suggested after the elevator doors opened on the ground floor.

Rouge again nodded her head, replying with a smirk, "Right behind ya."

Back on Mobius, Kitty and Amy finally arrived at Vanilla's house around 7:50pm, soon knocking on the door afterwards.

From the moment she opened the door, the mother rabbit could sense something was wrong by the looks on their faces.

"It's about time you came home, dear." Vanilla said to the tan feline with relief. "I was wondering when you'd get back home."

She then finally saw what was in Kitty's arms, inquiring with deep concern, "And who is this…?"

"We don't know yet." Kitty answered softly. "But she needs help and rest right away. Tails found her unconscious in the meadows."

"You don't say…" Seeing the importance of the need at hand, Vanilla quickly took the alien girl from the tan feline's arms and into hers, stating, "Well, I guess we could let her recover on the couch since we don't have any extra beds at the moment."

Being thoughtful and selfless, Kitty replied to her, "You can put to recover in my bed if you want."

"Are you sure you want to do that, dearie?" the mother rabbit inquired puzzled. "I mean, where would you sleep then?"

"I'll take the couch." The tan feline answered without the slightest hesitation. "I'll manage in the meantime. After all, this young girl needs it more than I do now."

By this point, the mother rabbit couldn't help but be impressed, saying to Kitty with a smile, "You know, it's moments like these that make me not regret at all opening my home to you." She then added with a nod, "Thank you. You really are a wonderful role model for my little girl to take after."

Before Kitty could even respond to this, the young rabbit herself soon came into the room, asking with a yawn while wearing pajamas, "Hey, what's all the noise in here? I was just getting to sleep now."

Cream finally saw the young alien girl herself within moments, asking with a gasp, "Oh my… who is that? I've never seen a species like her before."

"We don't know either." Vanilla explained to her daughter. "Kitty just brought her home about a minute ago."

"Oh that's right… the picnic." Cream then ran over to the tan feline with excitement, asking her in typical six year old fashion while looking at her gleefully in the eye, "So, was it fun? Did you have lots of yummy food to eat? Did Tails treat you really nicely while having a picnic with him? Please tell me everything that happened. I'm very curious now."

To say the least, Kitty felt very awkward about these rapid fire questions of hers, replying awkwardly with slightly blushed cheeks after a slight pause, "Um… I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Right now, we need to attend to the needs of this young girl now, sweetie. I hope you'll understand."

Cream thankfully did, saying in response after a brief pause, "Oh, ok. I can wait for now for her sake."

Before Kitty could respond to this, the young rabbit asked her Mom with genuine enthusiasm, "So, can I help you take care of her? Please…?"

Not wanting to stifle her desire to help someone, Vanilla answered with a warm smile, "Sure… even if it is past your bed time, I'll let you stay up for this good cause."

Cream quickly let out a child like, "Yay!" and soon walked over to help her Mom to assist her.

Kitty soon followed suit, where she soon looked back at Amy while standing on the first step of the stairs, still seeing her in the exact spot as before.

"Aren't you going to come help us?" the tan feline inquired of her with arched eyebrows.

"Um… I was, but since Cream volunteered so gracefully, I'll let her do it instead." The pink hedgehog answered awkwardly. "Plus, I do need to get home with it being so late and all now…"

"You know, I bet it would make points with Sonic if you stayed to lend a helping hand." Kitty reiterated.

Not being able to be resist the benefits of that suggestion, Amy replied with groan while shaking her head, "Oh, all right…."

And so, the pink hedgehog quickly followed Kitty up the stairs, ready to help out anyway possible.

Meanwhile in the Central City harbor, Topaz and Rouge soon arrived on the scene within thirty minutes, basically walking there on foot. Once there, they saw the aftermath of the wrecked G.U.N ship, even asking crew members nearby about what happened.

As it turned out, the entire shipment of weapons was lost at sea.

Not surprisingly, this news not only made Topaz very concerned inside, but Rouge too, especially when they found out part of the weapons' shipment was stealth technology for their fighter jets.

Topaz even commented to her friend after hearing the story, "I think Eggman personally targeted that ship on purpose."

"You think so?" Rouge inquired. "But, how would he know since he's forced to be confined to underwater transportation?"

Just then, the two of them noticed about a dozen dolphins about a mile offshore, jumping up and down in the water, making their natural sounds of communication as they did so.

A crew member soon saw it too, commenting while walking by, "You know, it's funny… ever since Eggman was defeated; we've been seeing dolphins appearing near the harbor almost every day now at random." He then shrugged his shoulders, adding, "Eh, maybe it's a sign of things returning to harmony."

Topaz though wasn't so sure, especially after hearing about the wrecked G.U.N ship.

Rouge soon noticed her friend was in deep thought, asking while glancing over at her, inquiring, "Something on your mind?"

After a long pause, Topaz replied while furrowing her brow, "I'm not sure… but for some strange reason, I find it odd dolphins have been appearing this close to the harbor as of late. They usually spread out to deeper waters."

Rouge couldn't deny this possibility at all, saying with her own new founded suspicion, "Hmmm… you really think there's more to it than meets the eye?"

"Only one way to find out…" Topaz answered. She then turned to her female bat friend, asking, "You up for an underwater trip?"

Rouge got the gist of her words, inquiring with arched eyebrows, "Are you really planning to find out more about them by using a submarine?"

Topaz quickly nodded her head, telling Rouge, "Why not? Since we're going to be looking for Eggman's robot octopus, might as well get a closer look at this dolphin behavior too while we're at it."

Seeing it was a solid idea, Rouge replied with a nod of her own "Very well then, let's get started."

Before Topaz could take one step though, Rouge inquired, "Although… how exactly are we going to get on a submarine anyway and search for Eggman? I doubt we can just walk up to one and have them agree to our request."

Topaz knew this was indeed true, replying after placing her right on her chin to think it over long and hard, "I think I might know a way, though I'm sure he won't be happy about the idea at first."

"You're actually going to use your new leverage over the Commander?" Rouge asked her. "I thought you said you weren't going to blackmail him."

"I'm not." Topaz told her firmly. "As much as I would like to, I won't stoop to his level to get what I need. Instead, I'm going to appeal to his ego this time to get us through."

"His ego…? What do you mean?" Rouge inquired perplexed.

"I'll ask him to let us board a submarine to help us track down in exchange for letting him take full credit if we succeed in bringing that mad man to justice." Topaz explained.

Rouge finally got what she was hinting at, stating with a sly grin, "Ahhh… I see where you're going with this." She then added with a wink, "How very clever of you."

Topaz couldn't help flash a grin back at her, saying, "c'mon, let's get to a phone and set it up."

And with that statement, the two of them ran to the nearest phone in the harbor.

As they did so, Rouge said to Topaz while looking at her, "It just occurred to me… what if the Commander attempts to erase that file you gave him and then pretends he never saw it?"

"Oh, don't you worry about that." Topaz replied with another grin. "I thought ahead on that matter and backed the file up, saving it to not only my computer, but another flash drive as well."

By this time, the renegade bat couldn't help but be completely amazed at how well her friend had played her cards here.

Topaz then added, "If he dares try that trick on me, I will personally lower the boom on him. He will answer for this one way or another. You can count on that."

Moments later however while they entered a nearby building on the pier to place the call, Rouge soon stopped in her tracks and then turned her head abruptly after seeing something in the corner of her right eye, even getting Topaz's attention.

"Something wrong?" the female G.U.N agent asked her.

"Those dolphins… They all just… up and left the harbor." The renegade bat told her awkwardly. "That's odd… do they normally leave that quickly?"

Topaz now saw it too, as the Rouge added with a shrug of her shoulders, "Maybe it's just a coincidence."

But again, Topaz sensed something was up, replying, "I've seen weird dolphin behavior before, but never anything like this. It's almost as if…"

The female G.U.N agent couldn't finish that thought, as the notion of it sent chills up her spine, even making her softly gasp to herself.

Even Rouge noticed her change in body language too, asking, "What, what is it?"

"I'll tell you later…" Topaz answered with a frown. "Right now, we need to get on a submarine right away and investigate. I've got a bad feeling about all of this."

Rouge quickly nodded her head in agreement, as she soon followed her friend behind while they ran inside the building.


End file.
